Harry Potter and the Fight for the Light
by VeryStickyGlue
Summary: Harry has taken a look at his life and doesn't like what he sees. He's under trained, uninformed and tired of waiting for death to find him. It's time that changed. Follow Harry as he takes the fight to Voldemort, with or without Dumbledore's approval.
1. Talking To NoOne

**Warnings: **Death, violence, torture, mentions of rape, sex scenes, swearing, graphic descriptions of dark spells, sex and torture scenes....I'm sure there are other things I should warn against that I might put into the story, but as the moment I can't think of anything. Basically, this story isn't for kiddies or those who are easily offended by sex, blood and gore. None of that stuff in CH1 though, just a heads up for future chapters.

**Disclaimer:** Aside from the plot and any original characters I might introduce, none of this belongs to me. No money is being made from the writing of this fan fiction. All rights go to JK Rowling, no matter how insane she is.

**-**

**Harry Potter And The Fight For The Light**

**By VeryStickyGlue**

**Chapter 1: Talking To No-one**

"...will not have it! Threatening us normal people like that I...Are you listening to me boy?!"

Once again, a very unenthusiastic "Yes Uncle Vernon." was mumbled from the back seat of Mr Vernon Dursley's new company car. Had anyone been counting, they would have noted that it was the 19th time that the raven haired youth mumbled those same words since getting in the car thirty minutes ago.

"Damn right you are!" Mr Dursley grunted before, once again, launching himself back into his rant. "I will not stand fo..."

The skinny, scruffy looking, black haired, bespeckled boy sitting in the back of Mr Dursley's posh new car tuned his uncle out once again, his mind moving away from the rant that had started the moment they pulled away from Kings Cross train station. For thirty minutes Harry Potter, boy wizard, the Chosen One, Boy-Who-Lived, Boy-Who-Lied, Mentally unstable attention seeking brat, Scarhead, and whatever else the world might be calling him, had been thinking about things no fifteen year old boy should have to think about. For the past thirty-rant filled-minutes, his mind had been replaying scenes that no normal fifteen year old boy should ever have to see, even in their most fearsome nightmares.

But therein lies the problem.

Harry Potter was not a normal fifteen year old boy. Harry Potter was not even a normal fifteen year old wizard. For Harry Potter quite literally had the weight of the world upon his skinny, underfed, under-trained shoulders. He had a psychotic madman and his sycophantic followers out for his blood. He had the death of his parents and Godfather on his hands, at least in his own mind. His friends lives were in danger just for knowing him and had already been hurt because of him. All because of a prophecy, spoken by a fraud in the back room of a dingy pub sixteen years ago.

"_Can it be true?"_ Harry thought to himself again. He had lost track of the amount of times he had asked himself that same question since hearing the prophecy in Dumbledore's office a week ago, _"That silly old fraud can't even predict the weather if she had her head out of a window, can she really have predicted this?"_

Harry mused over this question for the next five minutes, throwing out another "Yes Uncle Vernon" to appease his uncle. His thoughts were just starting to slide towards Sirius when his ears picked up something his uncle was saying.

"...just be laying about like you! No sir! My Dudley will be training hard for the boxing championships next month. Unlike you he'll be making something of..."

And Harry tuned him out again. But what he had been saying had stuck.

"_Training hard..."_ he mused, _"Training...I've never had any real training beyond normal school work. Dumbledore has known I'd have to face Riddle since before I was born, he should have been training me since I was old enough to hold a wand!" _Harry's face was slowly shifting from blank and uncaring to a mask of anger. _"That stupid old man knew all along and he's done nothing! Even after Tom returning last year I still didn't get any training...Unless you count the mind rape sessions with Snape...Which I don't!"_ Dudley, sitting next to Harry and listening to music on his walkman, pulled his headphones off and inspected his music player closely, wondering why his songs kept stuttering and jumping. _"Well that changes now! Training I need so training I'll get. I can start by reading those books Mooney and...and Sirius got me for Christmas."_

Twenty minutes later Harry pulled himself out of his musing when the car stopped in the driveway of Number 4 Privet Drive. He climbed out of the car, looked up at the house and noted that it hadn't changed in the slightest over the past ten months.

"Prison, sweet prison." he muttered to himself as he carried Hedwig up to his room and opened the window for her. He went back outside and hauled his school trunk from the car. Just as he had pulled it inside the house and closed the door, his uncle stepped out into the hallway.

"Living room, now." he barked, before heading into the room he indicated.

Harry sighed and lowered his trunk down to the floor. He knew that what ever was to come next wouldn't be good. Walking into the living room he saw that Dudley was already taking up one of the sofas by himself while staring at the TV in front of him.

Sighing inwardly and bracing himself, he looked towards where his uncle was standing, "You wanted to see me?"

Vernon turned around and glared at Harry, "I never want to _see_ you, freak! But I _do_ have some things to tell you."

Harry groaned inwardly.

"There are going to be some new rules around here boy. Rules that you are going to follow. _Or else_." he added, small piggy eyes narrowing, "You will not speak unless spoken to. You will not leave your room unless doing your chores. You will not be leaving the house unless it's to work in the garden. You will eat your meals in your room. You will write those freaks every three days and tell them that we are taking care of you. You will make no noise. You will keep that blasted owl quiet and in it's cage unless delivering one of those letters. Am I understood?"

"Well," drawled Harry, drawing the word out just to annoy Vernon even more, "I _could_ tell my friends that, however they would know I was lying and would end up storming the house."

"What is that meant to mean?" Uncle Vernon demanded.

"It means they know full well that you don't take care of me and if I said you were they would think you had forced me to write that."

"WHY YOU UNGRATEFUL BASTARD! We have taken care of you since you were dumped on our doorstep! Taken care of you out of the kindness of our-"

"Shut up!" Harry snapped, cutting him off, "You haven't taken care of me since I was out of nappies, and barely before then!"

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT!" bellowed Vernon, his face a deep purple colour.

"HOW DARE YOU CLAIM TO HAVE TAKEN CARE OF ME!" Harry bellowed right back.

Dudley gave a yell when the TV screen flickered several times before going black. Neither his father or Harry paid him the slightest bit of notice.

"I SHOULD HAVE THROWN YOU IN AN FUCKING ORPHANAGE WHERE YOU BELONG!"

"I WISH YOU HAD!" Harry yelled, and at that moment, the window exploded outwards.

Aunt Petunia, who had been keeping quiet and watching the argument, gave a shrill scream. Dudley, who had been thumping the TV, fell backwards with a yell. Uncle Vernon gave a wordless bellow and started towards Harry with his fist raised. Harry was trying to force his magic back under his control before he blew the side of the house off.

The front door flew open with a crash and Kingsley Shacklebolt ran into the room, wand raised. Vernon's fist fell to his side and his skin couldn't have gone from purple to white faster if someone had dumped a bucket of paint over his head.

"What the hell is going on here?" Kingsley demanded, his wand still raised, "I could hear the shouting from outside and suddenly the window explodes! Harry, are you ok?"

"Fine." muttered Harry, who was still trying to force his magic back under his control.

Uncle Vernon found his voice then, "What the hell are you doing in my house?"

"Protecting the most important thing in it." Kingsley growled, walking over to Harry. He could feel the waves of magic pouring off him, it was quite unsettling. "Harry, you need to calm down. Deep breathing. Control yourself."

Harry took several deep breaths, blocking everything out. This was rather hard to do as Vernon was now shouting about his window. He focused in on himself, trying to stuff his magic back inside his body.

Kingsley breathed a sigh of relief as the magic in the room slowly reduced until he could no longer feel it. "That's good Harry. Now, how about telling me what got you mad enough to lose control? Something, if I might add, that shouldn't happen to a nearly 16 year old wizard."

"I don't know," Harry muttered, he'd like to know as well, "I wasn't _that_ mad. He," he flicked his head towards his Uncle, "wasn't being any worse than normal. We've got into worse shouting matches than that." "_And more painful ones" _he added silently.

"Well you need to be careful. With...Everything that's happened lately it may be your emotions are just a little haywire and it's messing with your magic. Try and stay calm and in control."

"The Ministry wont have picked that up, will they?" Harry asked, fearing another court appearance.

"Yes, but I'll smooth it over. I'll reply to the warning letter with an explanation. We wou-" Kingsley was cut off as, rather stupidly, Vernon had decided it was a good idea to grab one of the 6''4 Auror's arms and spin him around to face him. No one could ever accuse Mr Vernon Dursley of being a smart man.

"ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?! WHAT ABOUT MY WINDOW! I WANT THAT FREAK OUT OF MY DAMNED HOUSE NOW!" he bellowed, spraying the Auror in front of him with spittle.

Kingsley didn't move, he didn't aim his wand between Vernon's eyes, he didn't point it at his heart, he didn't jab it into the many rolls under his chin and he didn't say a word. He just stared Vernon Dursley straight in the eye. After about fifteen seconds of the men staring each other down Vernon suddenly remembered exactly who, or rather _what_, he was in a staring contest with and with a frightened squeak, fell backwards onto the sofa behind him.

"Never do that again Muggle." Kingsley rumbled. He turned to Harry and the diamond hard look slipped off his face. "Now Harry, what set all this off?"

Harry felt like a child being told off for throwing a silly tantrum. "Um..Well he was informing me of some of the..er..new house rules."

"Oh?" Kingsley prompted.

Harry sighed and started ticking them off on his fingers, "Don't speak, don't come out of room, not allowed outside of house, eat in my room, do a list of chores a day and keep writing to the Order telling them I'm fine and they," Harry thrust his hand towards his Uncle, who flinched, "are taking care of me, keep Hedwig locked up. The rules are not really much different from normal but I refuse to say they are taking care of me when they never have done so since I was dumped here a decade ago!" Harry was getting more and more worked up by the end of his explanation come rant and Aunt Petunia's little glass ornaments were rattling on their shelf.

"Ok Harry, ok." Kingsley soothed, made nervous from the magic once again pouring from Harry in tingling waves, "Lets just calm down, ok? I think I'll lay down some new rules to help keep the peace."

"Now just a min-eepl!" Uncle Vernon started before Kingsley pinned him with a glare and he trailed off with an incomprehensible squeak.

"I talk. You listen." Kingsley rumbled, "Harry can eat when he wants, where he wants. Harry can come and go freely around the house when he likes. Harry will not be hassled by you, your wife or your pet whale. He will write his letters every three days telling his friends _exactly_ what is going on. Am I understood Dursley?"

"This is my house! I wont hav-"

"Am I understood Dursley?"

"You can't mak-"

"Am I understood Dursley?"

"I make the ru-"

Getting tired of repeating himself, Kingsley pointed his wand right at Vernon Dursley's face and used a spell he knew off by heart after taking care of his much younger sister. With a loud pop and a slightly squishy sound, Mr Vernon Dursley was wearing a bright red, floor length sequinned evening dress, a wig of long blond hair, high heels and more make-up than half the girls of Hogwarts put together. Unfortunately he was still grossly overweight and had a large bushy moustache. Harry was torn between laughing until he was sick, or just being sick, so he settled for the lightly uncomfortable middle ground and laughed until his sides hurt.

With a flick of his wand, Kingsley produced a camera from thin air and snapped off a picture of Mr 'Veronica' Dursley then slipped the camera into his robes. 'Veronica' was standing rigid as a board and spluttering at his reflection in the mirror.

"Now that I have your attention," Kingsley smiled, "If you do not follow my new rules or make life otherwise unpleasant for Harry while he is living here, that picture will be posted through every letterbox in this town as well as being circulated through your company as a highly important memo."

'Veronica' was working his mouth silently, trying to form a sentence, Petunia was standing against the wall, looking at her husband in horror and trembling at the thought of what the neighbours might say if they ever saw that picture, Dudley was cowering behind the sofa with his hands plastered over his bottom, and Harry was holding onto his sides, though he had stopped the hysterical laughter and had settled for the occasional chuckle.

"Would I regret asking how you know a spell to turn someone into a drag queen?" he asked the rather large Auror in front of him.

Kingsley grinned and turned to Harry, "It's a slightly modified spell parents can use on young witches when playing dress up, only lasts a few hours and a _finite _can undo it all. I know the original spell from spending hours playing with my sister when she was younger. I modified it before a Department Christmas party about seven years ago, lasts a lot longer and takes a lot more to undo it. If you thought this was funny, you have never seen Mr 'Cornelia' Fudge. Boy was he mad."

Harry tried desperately not to picture the portly Minister Of Magic dressed as a woman but sadly failed miserably, he shuddered and turned slightly green, "I had no idea you were such a prankster Kingsley."

"Oh yes," the normally serious Auror grinned, "Me and...um...Sirius talked many times about our school days. He said I would have fitted right in with the Marauders and it was a shame I didn't go to school with them. I graduated the in their second year. I still remember the prank they pulled with the three dozen Nifflers and a ten gallon vat of peanut butter." he smiled wistfully with a far away look on his face.

Harry sobered slightly but still somehow managed to keep a smile on his face, "You should go and talk to the Weasley twins. Tell them 'their better third sent them with a contribution to the product line'."

"Is that so?" Kingsley grinned, "I might just do that. Anyway Harry, I'm sure things here will be better from now on. I should get back outside, guard change is in ten minutes." He flicked his wand towards the window and repaired the damage, then flicked his wand towards Dudley, who had just poked his head out from behind the sofa. Though not casting anything at Dudley, the pig in a wig gave a girlish scream, the likes of which Draco Malfoy would be proud of, and took off out of the room faster than he had moved in years.

Harry snorted in laughter before walking Kingsley to the front door and bidding him good night. He walked back into the front room to get one last look at 'Veronica', who was still spluttering at his reflection in the mirror over the fireplace, before turning to his Aunt and asking when dinner was.

After several tries she eventually mumbled out, "You will come down and cook it in two hours." Before scuttling off after Dudley.

Harry, who actually missed cooking despite it being for his relatives, nodded and walked back out into the hallway to grab his discarded trunk.

After hefting his trunk up the stairs and dropping it loudly on his bedroom floor just to annoy his 'family', he flopped backwards onto his bed with a sigh. Harry thought the afternoon hadn't gone too badly, even if he did lose control of his magic for the first time in years. Seeing his Uncle in drag had been slightly frightening but extremely funny. He had an inkling that if Kingsley did go and visit the twins, the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes product line would shortly be sporting _'Dragqueen Delights'_ or some such product. Maybe they could use a picture of 'Veronica' as some kind of marketing for them.

Thinking back further to the car ride home, Harry remembered his promise to start reading his books in the hopes of learning how to keep himself alive a little longer. He climbed off his bed and flicked his trunk open before digging through his clothes in search of his Christmas gift from Sirius and Lupin. Pulling a ratty old T-shirt off of the books, Harry vowed that he would buy a new wardrobe as soon as possible.

Laying back on his bed, Harry propped volume one of _Practical Defensive Magic and its Use Against the Dark Arts_ up against his knees and began reading.

*****

Outside Number 4, Kingsley had just handed off the ward monitoring crystal to Hester Jones and was wondering what he should do with the rest of his evening. He knew his sister wouldn't be finished with her shift at St Mungos for another few hours and he didn't feel like digging into the mountain of paperwork that was sitting in his cubicle at the Ministry.

As he walked along the road towards the apparition point he felt the weight of the camera in his pocket and grinned. Walking into the clump of bushes that obscured the Muggles view, he concentrated on Diagon Alley. A small crack later and he was strolling down the alley towards a garishly coloured building with a steady stream of people moving in and out.

Pushing his way past the display cases, over excited children and slightly scared looking parents, he arrived by the cash register and a young dark skinned boy with dreadlocks that he didn't recognise.

Kingsley, reminded of his school days and still inwardly grinning over the memory of 'Veronica' Dursley, decided to prank the pranksters. Pulling out his Auror badge and putting on his 'don't fuck with me' face, he looked down his nose at the cashier.

"I am here on official business and need to speak with Misters Fred and George Weasley."

The young man paled slightly, making Kingsley wonder if the boys had something to worry about if an Auror did come around on official business.

"Of course sir, one moment please."

The young man pushed a small button next to the cash register and spoke into it, "Um, Fred, George, you might want to come out here. There is an Auror here to speak with you."

A few moments later a door appeared out of what Kingsley thought was a normal piece of wall and Fred and George piled out, glancing around with nervous looks.

"Where are they Lee?" one of them asked.

"Right there." Lee replied, pointing at Kingsley.

"KING!" the twins cried with matching grins, "How you doing!"

"What brings you here?"

"Need to prank the boss?"

"Prank the sister?"

"Prank an unsuspecting criminal?"

"Prank our dear mother?"

"Merlin save your soul if she catches you."

Chuckling heartily at the twins antics he shook his head. "No pranks this time gentlemen. And I'm not brave enough to risk pranking Molly."

"You three know each other then?" Lee asked with a puzzled look on his face.

Kingsley grinned, "Yeah. Sorry about that, Lee was it? I was just having a little fun."

"Oh," Lee said, over exaggeratedly wiping non-existent sweat from his brow and giving a little chuckle, "Well I should get back to work."

"Come on through here King where we can talk." Twin A said.

"Just be careful where you sit, we lost a case of drawing pins somewhere." Twin B said, glaring at Twin A.

"Hey! It wasn't my fault that vial of Invisibility Potion spilt on them!"

"Was."

"Wasn't."

"Was."

"Wasn't."

"Was."

"Was."

"Wasn't."

"AH HA! I win. Wasn't my fault."

"Damn." said Twin A, walking over to a small chalk board on the wall and adding a mark to the left hand column of tallies.

Kingsley sat back, grinning at the twins. He'd always liked their company.

The twins both turned to look at Kingsley at the same time. "So are you here as friend or foe?" one of them asked, trying to subtly kick a box deeper under a desk.

"I am here because, and I quote '_Your better third sent me with a contribution to the product line_'."

"Harry sent you?" the twins asked.

"I've just come from his place. Little trouble with his Uncle, my solution seemed to make him think I should talk to you two troublemakers. I take it he is the one who helped you get this fun factory up and running?"

"Maybe." the twins answered together.

"Right. Well maybe I should leave that one alone and just tell you why Harry sent me over here." Kingsley said, pulling out the camera. "Either of you know how to develop a photo?"

*****

Harry had been reading for what felt like hours. He had finished the first book and moved right on to the second, thinking his Aunt had decided she would cook dinner and not include Harry. Not that he minded, he would just wander down when he felt hungry.

He was just reading about a spell that would produce a large metal shield, used to deflect solid objects, when his Aunt shouted up the stairs.

"Boy! Get down here and cook dinner!"

Looking up in shock, Harry automatically called out "Ok." and set his book down. He looked over at his alarm clock and was shocked to see he had only been reading for just under the two hours his aunt had told him he had until he was to cook dinner. He glanced down at the large book he had been reading, the second volume in the set of three, and then at the one before it.

"No way I read all that in two hours." he mumbled, "Must have pulled a Ron and just sat turning the pages without thinking."

He put the books on his desk and wandered downstairs, glancing into the bathroom as he passed and catching sight of his uncle vigorously wiping at his make-up covered face. He snickered all the way down the stairs and entered the kitchen. He saw a pile of vegetables and a pack of pork chops. Sighing at the limited cooking options he set about making dinner, wishing he could make something a little more interesting.

An hour and a half later Harry trudged back up to his room feeling rather underfed. There had been four pork chops in the pack, but his aunt had given his to Dudley so all he had to eat were a small pile of peas, carrots and potatoes.

Sighing and longing for the Hogwarts Great Hall, he picked up Volume One of his defence books and threw himself back down on the bed, determined to read and take in everything in there this time.

Turning a few pages Harry found something rather odd. He remembered everything, word for word, on each page he looked at. He turned to half way through the book, to a point he was sure he wouldn't have been able to get to in the amount of time he had spent reading and looked the page over.

"That's...Strange..." he mumbled to himself as he looked over the page, reading the words _and _calling the words out of his memory. He finished the page and flipped a hundred or so pages ahead and looked at the page again. This page had a set of three combat based water charms. As Harry looked over the page he knew every word, every spell name, every wand movement and every one of the hypothetical situations each spell could be used in as well as how to shield against the spells should they be used against the reader.

With a frown on his face Harry picked up the second volume in the set and flicked a hundred pages in and looked the page over. Again he remembered every word on the page, every spell and every wand movement as if he had just finished reading the page. He flicked through to near the end where he knew he hadn't yet read and looked over the page. He didn't remember anything about it. It was like he was reading it for the first time.

He shook his head and thumbed back to the bookmark he slipped in when his aunt called him to make dinner. He flicked his eyes over half of the page, remembering all the words until he reached a point he didn't remember. He quickly read to the end of the page, then glanced up at the ceiling, pondering what was going on.

He couldn't have read the first volume and over half of the second in under two hours. He doubted even Hermione could have read that fast. There were over six hundred pages of spells, duelling advice and ways to handle dark creatures in the first volume alone. Yet there was no other explanation for how he knew the contents of the books without reading them. He knew them word for word, up until the point he stopped reading to go and cook dinner. He was pretty sure that if he sat down with a piece of parchment he could probably write down an exact copy of page three hundred and ninety two without looking at the book for reference at all.

"Maybe the books have a special enchantment on them?" he pondered out loud, flipping to the back cover to check. Finding nothing he looked inside of the front cover, then the back, again finding no mention of any special enchantments beyond the full colour moving diagrams.

"Something Remus added?" he asked his empty bedroom.

Getting up and walking over to his trunk, he pulled out a different book, _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade One_, a book he hadn't used since he refreshed his memory at the start of his second year. Sitting down on his bed he took careful note of the time and then started reading the four hundred page book.

He finished reading some time later, putting the book down and yawning. First year spells were not very interesting and he knew how to do them all, and some more complex versions to them as well. He looked at his clock and noticed just under forty five minutes had passed. It had felt a lot longer, at least two or three hours.

Picking up the book again he flipped it open to somewhere around the middle. He didn't look at anything on the page except the page number, three hundred and sixty one, then began speaking aloud.

"'_Alohomora (__AL__-o-ho-__MOR__-ah)_is the most basic of the unlocking charms. It will unlock any non magically sealed doors, windows and locks. If an item has been sealed with magic (See page 372), sometimes a sufficiently powered _Alohomora _will be able to overcome the locking spell and open the window, door or lock. The wand movement for the _Alohomora _spell is...'" Harry trailed off and looked down at the page. Sure enough, page three hundred and sixty one covered the _Alohomora_ charm and looking at the first paragraph, Harry noted he had quoted word for word.

"So it's not just a charm on the Defence books. A charm on me? No, if someone had cast a charm like this on me, they would have said. And I'm sure if a charm like this existed Hermione would have worked out how to use it within the first week of school and not left the library until she had read every book in there."

Harry continued his musing, throwing out ideas and dismissing them just as quickly. He finally decided he didn't care as it seemed like a good thing, then settled down to finish the second volume of his Defence books.

*****

Many hundreds of miles away, in an ancient castle hidden from most peoples view behind a thousand years worth of wards and enchantments, a small, spindly silver contraption started to puff purple smoke just a little bit faster. However this went unnoticed by the owner of the strange device, as they had just knocked their lemon drop dish on the floor and he was in the process of picking it back up.

*****

The next morning Harry woke up to the sound of breaking glass. He blearily looked around his room for the source of the noise when his bedroom door slammed open. Harry rolled out of bed and into a defensive crouch, wand already in his hand after pulling it from under his pillow, the tip glowing with the bright red light of a stunner, before realising it was his Uncle Vernon, or on closer inspection, his Uncle 'Veronica' and not Bellatrix Lestrange, whose face he had just woken up from.

"Put that freak stick down boy!" his Uncle snapped.

Harry complied, not because his Uncle asked him to do so, but because he didn't want to _accidentally_ curse his Uncle and get another warning for underage magic.

"What do you want Uncle?" Harry growled while glancing at the clock, "It's six thirty in the bloody morning!"

"Get this shit off of my face! I have work in an hour!" 'Veronica' snarled.

"No can do Aunt Ver...Oh I'm sorry, I meant Uncle Vernon. I can't use magic outside of school, and I'm not sure I know how to get rid of it anyway." Harry said in a serious voice, laughing his head off inside. "Maybe no one will notice if-"

"OF COURSE THEY WILL!" his Uncle roared, slamming his fist into the wall and waking Hedwig up with a screech.

"Well then I guess you will just have to wait until the spell wears off. I doubt it will be more than twenty four hours. Now will you please leave, I would like to get some more sleep."

'Veronica' growled and stomped out of the room, shouting over his shoulder, "Downstairs and cooking breakfast in five minutes or I'll be back up here to roast that overgrown chicken!"

Harry sighed and stroked Hedwig's soft breast feathers, assuring her that he wouldn't let Vernon touch her and that she was too smart to let a oaf like him catch her anyway.

Rubbing his temples he smiled, the headache that had forced him to put his books down had eased off. It started shortly after he had finished reading his third year books, which he had started after finishing his second and first year books, and he only started on those after he finished the fifth and final volume of his Defence books. He thought back over all the books he had read last night, recalling single spells, entire paragraphs of information on them, pages of situations that each spell would be best suited for and entire lists noting which shields worked best on different spells, with hardly any effort at all. Whatever it was that was helping him read and remember things like this, it wasn't gone.

"Almost out of books." he muttered as he cracked a half dozen eggs into a frying pan. "Wonder if I could order more in." he added five rashers of bacon to another pan, "Or...I could go myself. No real reason I shouldn't go to Diagon Alley. If I were any other person I would be free to go to the book store any time I liked." he slid three slices of toast into the toaster and got out the jam and marmalade, "I could go in disguise. No one would spot me. And if they did, the alley is full of people and no doubt Aurors." he glanced at the eggs, bacon and toast, mulling things over, "Dumbledore would be pretty pissed if I just up and left to go shopping. But I should be allowed to if I want to. It's not like he'd try and stop any other student going shopping. He's only the headmaster, he has no right to stop me." he thought about letting his uncles eggs burn in payback for getting him up early, "Naw, he'd just make me cook them again anyway. Maybe Dumbledore wouldn't be so pissed if I had an Order member with me. The Order guards me, not the house. Where I am, they guard."

Dumping the bacon, eggs and two slices of toast onto a plate for his uncle, he snagged one rasher of bacon, folded it up into a slice of toast, wandered over to the back door and out into the garden while munching his breakfast.

He glanced around for signs of an order member, not really expecting to see any but willing to bet one was around anyway.

"Today I plan to go shopping in Diagon Alley. I will be getting on the Knight Bus at 8am." he clearly stated to the rose bushes. He then walked around to the front of the house and stated the same message.

Confident that the Order member got the message, he walked back into the house and up to his room, briefly stopping in the bathroom where his uncle was scrubbing at his face to tell him his breakfast was on the table. Harry noted that the bathroom mirror was on the floor in several hundred pieces. Obviously his uncle had got annoyed at seeing his made up face and smashed it.

He walked into his room and over to his trunk, pulling out his money bag and counting how much he had. Seeing that he had more than enough for the Knight Bus he glanced down past his hand and saw his clothes in the trunk at his feet.

"That's it. I'm getting better clothes today." he stated. Hedwig pulled her head out from under her wing and barked softly in what Harry took to be agreement.

Harry took a quick shower and threw on some clothes, followed by his thinnest school cloak. He'd turned it inside out so it didn't show the school crest. Unless someone looked closely, they would just take it for a normal black cloak.

He looked at himself in the mirror and frowned. He was still, most definitely, Harry Potter. Far too easy to spot. He looked around his room, wondering what he could do about that when he spotted the answer walking along the street outside. He grinned and slipped out of his bedroom and into his still sleeping cousins.

*****

A short time later Harry was walking towards the park, Order guard following quietly along behind him. Harry figured the lack of protest meant that he was fine to go shopping.

"I think it might be best if I take the bus while you apparate. The way Ernie drives you're likely to go flying into someone and be spotted." Again, and maybe slightly stupidly, Harry took the silence to mean there was no problem with that.

Reaching a slightly secluded spot on the road Harry pulled the brim of the baseball cap he had 'borrowed' from his cousin, down over his face as far as he could, then stuck out his wand to call the Knight Bus. With a deafening BANG the bright purple, triple decker bus popped into existence in front of him.

Without waiting for Stan the conductor to exit the bus, Harry hopped on and called out, in a rougher voice than his own "Diagon Alley please Stan."

"Err...Stan quit two months back."

"Oh." Harry said, looked up in shock, before quickly looking down again, "Well, all the same, Diagon Alley please."

"Right you are. That'll be eleven sickles."

Harry quickly handed the money over and glanced at the chairs around him. Deciding to stand and hold on to one of the poles, he braced his knees when he heard the new conductor call out "Diagon Alley Ern, let 'er rip!"

With a huge bang the bus was now shooting down a busy London street, pushing the rush hour traffic out of the way. With another bang the bus came to a sudden stop, almost sending Harry flying forward onto his face. Luckily he stayed on his feet.

"Leakey Cauldron." the conductor said in a bored tone. "Thank you for choosing the Knight Bus, we hope you had a pleasant trip. Please mind the step as you exit the bus."

Harry hopped down and walked into the dingy pub, keeping his head down. He quickly walked out into the small courtyard and hissed "Are you there?"

He heard two taps on one of the bins and took them for an affirmative. _"Moody must be cracking down on their stealth or something. Or it is Moody."_

Harry quickly tapped the correct bricks and walked through the newly formed archway. If he had looked backwards he would have noticed a small cat peer out from behind one of the bins.

Harry quickly made his way through the alley, eyes flicking from side to side with his head down watching the shop keepers opening up their businesses. He headed straight for Gringotts to get his money out, swiftly moving up the steps.

"I'd stay out here if I were you, the Goblins wouldn't like an invisible person in the bank." he hissed out of the corner of his mouth. Without waiting for an answer he slipped inside, past the two goblin guards.

He walked over to a teller and pulled his key from his pocket. Still keeping his head down he mumbled up to the Goblin.

"I'd like to be taken to my vault please." handing the key over.

The Goblin behind the desk looked at the key, then at the person in front of him, he jiggled something on the counter and a panel slid down directly in front of Harry.

"Put a finger on there." the Goblin growled.

"Why?" asked Harry, looking up in surprise, "I've never had to do so before."

"Identity check." the Goblin hissed. "Get a move on."

Harry placed a finger on the pale blue square and watched as it flashed blue, then red before settling on green.

"All clear. Sorry about that Mr Po-"

"No names please!" Harry hissed quickly.

"Right you are sir. Bonesnap!" he yelled over his shoulder, "Take this client down to his vault."

"Yes sir." Bonesnap grunted.

Harry followed the bulky looking Bonesnap through the doors and into a cart.

"Vault number?" Bonesnap asked, glancing at Harry in the back of the cart.

Harry told him and they shot off at breakneck speed, bringing a huge smile to Harry's face. He hadn't moved this fast since his Firebolt was confiscated, he really needed to get that back sometime soon.

Far too shortly in his mind, Harry was scooping money into his money pouch. When it started bulging he looked around for another bag. A slight cough made Harry look towards the door. Bonesnap was pointing towards small alcove Harry hadn't noticed before. He walked over and saw several small bags, not unlike his own. He picked one up and started sliding some galleons into it, but saw it wasn't bulging half as badly as his own. He looked up at Bonesnap.

"Enchanted. Extra space." he said simply.

Harry nodded and stuffed more coins into the bag. He turned around to head out of the vault when he saw a piece of parchment in another alcove by the bags. Picking it up he saw it was the current balance. Harry gave a low whistle. He knew he had a lot in his vault, but seeing 98,382 galleons in the 'Total Vault Contents' box shocked him. As he was watching, that number dropped by nearly three thousand galleons.

Harry grinned all the way back up to the surface, idly wondering if the Goblins would let him ride the carts for no reason other than them being fun. Sadly he doubted it.

He thanked Bonesnap for his assistance and walked over to the 'Muggle Conversion' counter, missing Bonesnap's shocked expression. Harry didn't know how much the new clothes he wanted would cost him, so he changed enough galleons for two thousand pounds.

Heading out of the bank and assuming his guard picked him up again, Harry made his way over to Flourish & Blotts, keeping his cap pulled low over his face. Entering the small bookshop he let his eyes adjust to the lower light then pulled out a small list he had made that morning.

_**Books 2 get:**_

_duelin_

_curses_

_advance dada_

_wards (useful maybe)_

_transfig_

_Occlumency (keep snape out, slimey git)_

_broomstick book (make my own would be cool)_

_potions (piss the dark lord greasy off by knowing what im doin)_

Ok, so it wasn't a Hermione standard list, but for being done at seven in the morning after little sleep it wasn't bad. It worked and that was the important thing. Harry made a mental note to burn the list as a safe guard from Hermione ever seeing it. He could almost picture the horror on her face at him using a number instead of a word.

Smiling to himself he walked over to the duelling section, tilting his head sideways to read the titles as he passed.

"History...History...Rules...Famous Duels...History...Rules...Rules...History...Ooh, a good one." he muttered pulling _Downright Dirty Duelling for Dastardly Duellers_ from the shelf, tucking it under his arm and resuming his search. After another few minutes he had another three books, _Introduction to Duelling: A Beginners Guide, Amateur Duelling: Trips and Tricks to Enter the Big Ring _ and a small book he found tucked between two history books, _Duels with No Rules_. The first two looked to be about competition duelling, the last showed some promise though as it seemed to talk about life and death duels.

Carrying the four books over to the section on curses, jinxes and hexes Harry spotted a hand basket. Figuring it would make his life easier, he tipped his books into it. It immediately started floating along beside him.

"I love magic." he told the basket. The basket didn't reply, the scrawny human really wasn't it's type anyway.

He was disappointed with the lack of books he was able to find on curses. There seemed to be a distinct lack of offensive spell books around. He did manage to find two books though, _Curses! Cursed again!,_ which seemed to be mostly about countering curses and mild enchantments on items, and another book called _Jinxes and Hexes your Teachers Wish you Didn't Know!_ That one seemed to be filled with prank curses and hexes, such as hair removing or eyebrow lengthening. Harry thought it might be useful, as having your enemies eyebrows block their vision in the middle of a fight would give them a distinct disadvantage.

Walking through the Advance Defence Against the Dark Arts section Harry was even more disappointed than with the curse section. He found a single book that didn't seem to be Ministry written, _Fighting Back the Darkness, _which, after a quick skim through Harry realised he knew half of the material, but he chucked it in his basket anyway.

The warding section seemed surprisingly small and it looked like the Ministry was to blame. Every book seemed to start with _'Ministry Of Magic's Guide to...'_ Harry picked up _Ministry Of Magic's Guide To Warding Your Home _and chucked it in the floating basket with a disgruntled sigh.

The transfiguration section was much more promising. Harry immediately picked up a book after only seeing the author, _Advanced Transfiguration: Beyond Your NEWTs by Minerva McGonagall._ McGonagall was a great teacher, very strict, but knew what she was teaching. If she had written a book it would be well worth reading. After browsing around some more Harry also picked up a book on Conjuring.

Harry was totally unable to find any books on Occlumency, Legilimency or any other mind arts. After a few minutes he thought the Ministry must be to blame, and if not, might as well blame them anyway.

He was also unable to find any books on making your own broomstick, though after thinking about that one he couldn't really blame broom manufacturers for not wanting books like that out on the market.

Heading into the potion section Harry grabbed three books, _NEWT Level Potions, Household Potions _and _Rare Potions and How to Brew Them._

"Even if I don't get into the greasy git's potion class, if I know my stuff I can sit the NEWT for it anyway." he reasoned.

Deciding he had enough books to start with, he made his way over to the counter, glancing around as he did so. Just before he reached his destination he spotted an interesting looking book and realised he had to buy it. With a grin he floated his basket onto the counter but kept back the last book.

"Do you do gift wrapping?" he asked the witch behind the counter as she totalled up his books.

"Mmhmm." she hummed, "You know, all these books are going to be costly, are you sure you can afford them?" glancing Harry up and down, noting the shabby looking clothing under his cloak.

"It wont be a problem. Could you gift wrap this one please?" he asked, handing the last book over. "And is there any way you can shrink these down for me?"

"Can't you?" she asked

"Underage." Harry mumbled

The clerks eyebrows raised at an underage wizard buying these kinds of books but said nothing about that, "Have you an of age person at home that can resize them for you?"

"Err, no. Can't you make it so I can give them a wand tap?" Harry asked.

"I don't know how." the witch said with a bit of a blush, "However this bag," she reached under the counter and pulled out a brown leather backpack, "has several enchantments on it including featherlight and space expanding."

"I'll take that as well then please." Harry said with a smile.

A few minutes and nearly one hundred and fifty galleons later, Harry entered Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions intent on buying a plain set of robes that didn't make him stand out or look like a school age boy.

A half hour later and an assurance from Madam Malkin that she wouldn't tell anyone he had been in, Harry was walking towards the Leaky Cauldron with a new set of robes shoved into his backpack.

He quickly moved through the pub until he was standing by the door to muggle London. He whipped his cloak off and crammed that into his now rather full backpack and slipped out the door and onto the street.

Less than thirty seconds later three Order members tumbled out of the Floo and started searching up and down the alley.

*****

Back in Diagon Alley, in the back room of the brightest coloured store, two red haired drag queens were laughing manically while a printing press was churning out copy after copy of 'Veronica'.

"We really owe Harry for this one!" drag queen A chuckled.

"He's certainly earning his thirty three point three three three three three three three three three-"

"Enough three's brother mine."

"Right you are."

"But yes, he is earning his share of the profits."

"When are you going to tell him we made him a full partner?"

"I'm not telling him, you are."

"No, you!"

"No, you!"

"No, you!"

"No, you!"

"No, me!"

"Yes, you!"

"Dammit."

"Can't fool me like that twice! Now go add another tally to my side!"

"I did fool you twice," said on as he marked another line on his twins side of the board, "I fooled you like that twenty three times in the last week alone."

"Silence! I'm having an idea!"

"Oh? What is it?"

"I..I...I......."

"Yes?"

"I......"

An extremely loud ripping noise tore through the back room, making both twins jump.

"My bad, just gas." Fred muttered

"That's a great idea!" exclaimed George while covering his nose.

"Really?"

"Yes! Multi coloured fart clouds! Feed your friends one of the items and they not only have uncontrollable gas, but it turns said gas into different colour, highly visible clouds!

"Great idea Fred!"

"I thought I was George?"

"No it's my turn to be George today, you're Fred."

"Gotcha!"

Several passing witches stared at the garishly coloured Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes in fear before hurrying away. The manic laughter really was quite unsettling.

*****

Harry jumped off the bottom step of the Knight Bus and started walking towards Number Four. He was feeling very pleased with himself and his new clothes. He had several sets of tshirts, many pairs of jeans, several long sleeve tops and a very nice leather jacket that had caught his eye. He was grinning from ear to ear and feeling on top of the world.

Unfortunately he was about to be brought back down with a rather large bump.

Standing around in the front garden of the Dursley's house were what looked like most of the Order of the Phoenix, including Dumbledore.

"Er, hi guys." Harry said tentatively, "What's up?"

Most of the Order had been talking together with their backs to the road and as such hadn't seen Harry approaching. When he spoke up, they all spun around as one. Predictably, Tonks fell over.

"Harry!" called Dumbledore, "Where have you been young man?"

Harry scowled. "Shopping. What's it to you?"

"You are not to leave the house, especially unescorted!" the headmaster said, "We have been looking for you all day!"

"Well you obviously didn't look very hard." Harry spat, "And what do you mean 'unescorted'? I told whoever was on guard this morning that I wanted to go to Diagon Alley and they have been with me all day!"

"No one has been with you today Harry." Kingsley spoke up.

"Kingsley! But...I thought...I've been talking to you all day!" Harry spluttered. And indeed he had, asking opinions on different items of clothing and such. He had taken silences or slight movements of things close to him as answers. What he didn't realise was the slight movements of things around him were caused by other shoppers moving things on the other side of the clothing racks.

"The Order member guarding you this morning received no messages from you Harry." Dumbledore said, glaring at Mundungus Fletcher, who shuffled his feet nervously, "Your guard was asleep in your aunts rose bushes. And if he was awake he would have informed me of your intentions and I would have stopped you."

"It's none of your business, _Headmaster_!" Harry snapped, "If I want to go shopping you have no right to stop me."

"We are trying to protect you from Voldemort and his Death Eaters!"

"I can protect myself!"

"You are not trained enough to protect yourself!

"I am not trained at all, thanks to you!"

Dumbledore stood up straighter, not a twinkle in his eye.

"Mr Potter, you are to stay in your aunt's house where you are protected. You will not leave it again until I say so. Is that understood?"

"Go suck on your lemon drops, stay out of my life."

The Order gasped in shock. No one spoke to the headmaster of Hogwarts that way! Everyone thought Harry looked up to Dumbledore as something like a Grandfather.

"Mr Potter!" cried McGonagall, "You can't speak to the headmaster like that!"

Harry just scowled at them all. "I'll speak to him how I like. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some new books I'd like to read, including yours Professor McGonagall."

Dumbledore's gaze snapped to the bag on Harry's back. "I think I should check the books to make sure you are not reading anything...Unsuitable."

"Yes well I think you should piss off."

And with that he started making his way to the front door. Dumbledore pulled his wand out and started pointing it towards Harry's bag with the idea of summoning it to him and checking through the young man's purchases.

Harry, sensing...Well he wasn't sure exactly what...But sensing _something _behind him, dropped the bags of clothing, rolled forwards and to the side pulling out his wand in the process. He snapped up into a duelling crouch he read about the previous night with his wand pointed straight at Dumbledore, the wands tip glowing a concrete grey.

The Order were stunned, all except Mad-Eye Moody who was chuckling to himself and slowly applauding.

"Very nice Potter," the gnarled old Auror growled, "Quick reflexes there. Very nice."

"Thank you Professor Moody." Harry muttered, not taking his eyes, or wand, from Dumbledore.

"Albus," McGonagall called, "I think you should let Mr Potter go inside and read his books. The notice-me-not charm wont hold if you two start duelling. The Muggles might see. Mr Potter, put your wand away this instant!"

Dumbledore eyed Harry carefully before nodding and lowering his wand. Harry stayed still, his wand still glowing and pointed at his headmasters face.

"Don't try that again. It's none of your business what books I read." he snarled.

Once Dumbledore had slid his wand back out of sight, Harry lowered his wand and stood back up, picking up his bags and turning back to walk into the house.

As he was passing Tonks he stopped and grinned at her.

"Tonks!" he said with a grin, "I have a present for you!"

"Present?" her orange eyes lighting up in excitement and her hair flashing through her happy colours. Harry grinned at the over excitable metamorph and reached into the bag on his back, pulling out the gift wrapped book and handing it to her.

"Happy...err...Today!" he called, starting back into the house, "Feel free to drop by any time and put some of those things to the test!" he said with a cheeky grin.

And with that, he closed the front door on the Order members. The last thing he saw was Tonks ripping the wrapping off the book with her hair flashing between green and blue, and a very annoyed looking Headmaster.

Yes. Today had been a good day.

--

**A/N: **Well there we go. Chapter one. It's a little different from how I planned it, longer in some places, shorter in others. I'm not sure where the second scene with the Weasley Twins came from but it wouldn't stop bouncing around my head after I thought of it so I stuck it in there anyway.

As with any author posting their works here, I'm hoping for reviews. Helpful hints, pointing out mistakes or errors, telling me what bits you did and didn't like, everything is welcome. I'll even welcome flames if you have something constructive to say in them.

Thanks go to every fanfiction author who has written a story I liked. You have inspired to me write my own. I've read hundreds and hundreds of fics and can't possibly name them all, but my thanks go to you all just the same. More thanks go to the makers of Microsoft Solitaire, for some reason playing a round of that when I get writers block half way through a scene breaks the block and gets me back on track.

Until next time!!


	2. Thousand Year Old Toothpicks

**Warning: **Rather graphic torture scene. Sorry but I wanted to try my hand at one. It's near the end of the chapter. You could skip over it if you like but it does have some information in.

**Disclaimer:** Dude, you gotta be trippin' balls if you think I'm Rowling or I'm getting paid for writing this.

**Chapter 2: Thousand Year Old Toothpicks**

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Order of Merlin First Class, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Grand Sorcerer, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, founder, leader and secret keeper of the Order of the Phoenix and the single largest buyer of Lemon Drops in England...Was not a happy bunny.

Last night it became crystal clear to him that he didn't have as tight control of Harry Potter as he thought he did. He expected Harry might still be slightly upset with him over the Sirius incident, but that was over a week ago! He didn't even know that old dog that well.

Albus paced up and down his office, something he found rather therapeutic, while he thought over the puzzle that is Harry Potter.

"Of course," he muttered to himself, "he might still be a little upset with me, but that is no excuse for his behaviour yesterday! Pulling his wand on me? Unacceptable. Talking to me like that in front of others? Completely unacceptable. He must be reined in somehow, taught some humility."

He continued muttering like this for some time, until he felt a slight twitch in his head and an image of the spiral staircase outside his office came to the front of his mind. Quickly, he sprinted the few steps behind his desk and sat down, looking cool, calm and collected. It simply wouldn't do to seem troubled.

A few seconds later there was a knock on the door to which Dumbledore called out, "Come in, Severus my boy."

The door opened and Albus held back a smile as his overly dramatic potions master billowed into the room.

"You wished to see me, Headmaster?" he hissed.

"Yes indeed Severus, please take a seat. Lemon drop?" the headmaster said in a grandfatherly voice, pulling out his wand to conjure an overstuffed armchair and indicating a dish of the sour sweets.

The bat-like professor sneered at the squishy chair, flicked out his own wand and changed the chair into a stool, the likes of which adorned the potions classrooms, which he then sank down onto. He ignored the lemon drops.

"What is this about Headmaster? I have several sensitive potions I am working on now that those annoying little snotrags are out of my hair."

"I wish to talk to you about Mr. Potter." the headmaster smiled, eyes twinkling slightly.

Professor Snape's upper lip curled into an impressive sneer, "What has that attention seeking brat done now?"

"It's not so much what he has done, as what he hasn't." Albus replied carefully.

Snape wasn't a stupid man, slightly childish and could carry a grudge like no other, but not stupid. It took just four seconds for the headmaster to spot the light flick on in Snape's eyes and his sneering expression to turn to one of anger and annoyance.

"No!" Snape spat, "No. Not again. Do it yourself. I would sooner teach Longbottom to dance!"

"Come now Severus," Dumbledore twinkled, "You know you are better than me when it comes to Occlumency, and you agree that the boy must be trained."

"Not by me he doesn't!"

"If not you, then who? Oh my! I'm a poet and I didn't know it! Oh, but now is not the time to rhyme."

Snape ground his teeth together loud enough for the headmaster to hear, "Teach. Him. Your. Self."

"We have been through this Severus, I do not think it safe to-"

"Oh please! You just don't want to do it." Snape cut off.

The headmasters eyes narrowed slightly, "Severus, you have far more experience at protecting your mind from Riddle than I do. That is why you _will_ be teaching Mr. Potter Occlumency again, starting this coming Saturday."

The moody potions master growled slightly but held his tongue. Spending more time than absolutely necessary with a Potter, let alone the same Potter who invaded his private memories, was about as pleasant as the thought of using his own eyeballs in a potion to help cure a first years runny nose.

"You owe me for this." he eventually snarled.

"Yes, yes." Dumbledore sighed, "I'll see about getting you some of the rarer potion ingredients."

"If that was all?" Snape asked.

"Do you have any more information on Voldemort?"

"Nothing has changed, he is still recruiting." Snape seemed to hesitate before continuing, "He is debating the merits of marking some of the children of his followers."

Dumbledore sighed and looked sadly down at his desk.

"Which ones?" he asked.

"Some of them I don't know, but I'm sure you could guess the rest. Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, Parkinson, Davis, Greengrass, Edgecombe..."

"Edgecombe?" Dumbledore interrupted, looking up quickly.

"Yes. Her mother is one of his Ministry people. Floo network if I remember rightly."

"Ah yes. I believe it was young Miss Edgecombe who betrayed Mr. Potter and his defence group." Dumbledore sighed, "Have you seen or spoken to any of the children? Do they seem like they wish to take the mark?"

"I have seen a few of them but only spoken to Draco." Snape looked down at his hands and shook his head, "My Godson and his goons seem to be looking forward to it, excited by the prospect even. I am hoping to change his mind now that he is out from under his fathers influence."

"I hope Draco sees the light. I'm sure you will be able to bring him around my friend." Dumbledore assured. "And the others?"

"Crabbe and Goyle tend to follow Draco like lost sheep, if I can turn Draco away from the Dark Lord they might follow. I have seen Parkinson and Greengrass also, though not spoken. Pansy will follow Draco with what he does in the hopes of one day becoming the new Mrs. Malfoy. Greengrass I'm not so sure about, she is very hard to read. I haven't seen Davis but she is like a sister to Greengrass and would likely do as she does." Snape finished talking and sighed again, "It mostly hinges on Draco."

"Yes. Well I wish you luck with that. I hope you can turn them all from the darkness." Dumbledore sighed, looking older than normal.

"If you have nothing else?" Snape asked, "I would like to get back to my lab."

Dumbledore nodded and after a few more words, Snape returned to his bubbling cauldrons, leaving the ancient headmaster to his thoughts.

With a sigh he pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill and started writing.

_Dear Mr. Potter,  
I hope this letter finds you well..._

*****

The recipient of that letter was currently several hundred miles away, laying on a sun lounger in the middle of the back garden of Number Four, book propped up on his knees and a glass of ice cold orange juice within easy reach. He loved it when the Dursley's went out for the day.

Harry was currently reading though the Ministry book on home warding and he found himself extremely unimpressed. If this was the best the Ministry could do to help protect it's citizens then it was no wonder Voldemort was such a threat during the last war.

All the book really talked about were basic anti-apparition warding, advance door locking charms keyed to the home owners, muggle repelling, fire suppression and a few simple sounding detection wards. The main thing the book said was there was not much need for home protection wards as the Ministry exists to protect the witches and wizards of England and that they should contact the Aurors should there be a problem. With a sigh Harry chucked the book down and closed his eyes.

"_Unless you have old wards on your family home or pay a fortune to the goblins or the Ministry, you're screwed."_ he thought, "_Muggleborns would be relatively unprotected. I wonder if that's the plan..."_

"Oi, Potter!" a harsh yet pleasantly feminine voice yelled.

Harry snapped his eyes open and looked around for the source of the voice. He grinned when he saw who it was.

"Wotcher Tonks!" he called.

"Explain!" she snapped, throwing a book into Harry's stomach, making him cough and sit up.

He looked down at his lap and glanced at the front cover in confusion. It was the same book he brought for her yesterday.

"You don't like your gift?" he said, grinning in confusion.

Tonks snarled and her eyes flashed several alarming shades of red. "You thought I would like _Household Charms No Housewife Should Be Without_? Are you trying to say something?"

"I thought you would find it funny." Harry protested, losing the smile on his face.

"Funny? Funny! Are you trying to say something about me? You think I should stay at home or something? I know I was hurt during that Ministry fight but I'll have you know I was one of the top of my class! Moody himself taught me!" she snarled.

"What? No! I..You're...That's not what...I think you're a great Auror!" Harry scrambled.

Tonks narrowed her eyes, "Then explain!" she snapped.

Harry gulped and quickly started talking, "You remember when we first met?"

The angry young woman nodded, "Last year, picking you up from this place."

"Yeah. And remember you came up to my room to help me pack?"

"So?"

"You said you'd never got the hang of the household charms. That your mum could even get the socks to fold themselves but all you could do was make them flop about. I thought it would be useful and...I don't know...I thought you'd get a chuckle out of it. I wasn't trying to upset you. It..." Harry paused, swallowed then pushed on, "It reminded me of when we met and I thought you might like the reminder." he finished, looking down at the grass and blushing. "I don't really know why I thought that now."

Tonks didn't say anything, she just stared at the young man in front of her.

"_Fuck!_" she yelled at the inside of her skull, "_He does something nice and...and...sweet!...And then you yell at him for it. Oh Tonks you stupid cow!"_

"_Ah bugger_,_"_ Harry moaned to himself, twisting his fingers in his lap and wondering if he should just make a run for it, "_She's going to kill me. I thought she'd laugh. I thought it was funny. I'm dead. Toast. Kaput. Finished."_

"_Say something, anything!"_ Tonks chided herself, "Erm...Thanks." She winced, _"Smooth."_

Harry kept his eyes on the grass and nodded slightly, "No problem. Sorry."

"No, it was funny. And I appreciate it. I just...Forgot about all that stuff." she mumbled, "I got kinda...I over reacted a little. _I'm_ sorry."

"Ok. Well we're both sorry. That's err.. good.. I guess." Harry said, looking up carefully. Tonks was standing a few feet away looking nervous and unsure, worrying her bottom lip.

"So...Err..You want to start this conversation over?" Harry asked lamely. Tonks just nodded.

"Wotcher Tonks!"

"Wotcher Harry! You stealin' my line?" she asked with a huge grin.

"I'd never do such a thing!" he answered with the picture perfect look of innocence on his face, sadly it was ruined by the boyish grin.

"Thanks for the book, it was really nice of you to think of me." she said carefully.

Harry stiffened slightly, "No problem, glad you..er..liked it."

Tonks was looking around the garden. In truth, she was just looking anywhere than at Harry.

"Drink?" Harry asked.

"Huh?" Tonks eloquently answered, turning to face him.

"Would you like a drink? And sit down someplace, get comfy." Harry offered, waving his hand over the patio chairs and another sun lounger.

Tonks plunked down onto the grass where she was standing, "No drink, thanks."

"So what brings you here? Aside from wanting to yell at me I mean." he asked with a grin.

Tonks blushed and looked down at her boots for a second, "Guard duty. My shift. I thought I'd come yell at you a bit before going and sitting under the cloak."

"Don't." Harry said, "Sit here and talk to me instead, you can still guard me and it'll be nice to have someone to talk to, for both of us. Besides, we haven't really talked since last Christmas. Kinda miss it, though no tickling charms please!"

The young Auror looked torn and went back to worrying her lip, "I'm not really meant to be talking to you. Dumbledore said that we..." she trailed off at the black look that crossed Harry's face at the mention of his headmaster.

"He has no right to dictate who I do and do not talk to!" he snarled.

"Um, ok." she said carefully, "You...er...Seem a little...annoyed at him?"

Harry said nothing for a while, before barely whispering his answer, "He has a lot of stuff to answer for."

Sensing it was time for a topic change, Tonks cast her mind around, "So..er...That jacket was nice. New?"

"Yeah. I got it yesterday. I wanted to go get some decent clothing and I thought that I might as well do it then seeing as I was out buying more books as I'd finished all mine...Oh, hey. Do you know of anything that would make someone read quickly?"

Tonks shot him a confused look before shaking her head, "No. Well...There is a technique called Speed Reading, that what you mean?"

"I don't think so." Harry muttered, thinking back over what he'd been doing while reading, "It's more like...Well it feels like I'm reading at a normal speed but..." he trailed off.

"_'Buuuut'_..." Tonks prompted, leaning towards Harry eagerly like a child listening to a fairytale.

"Well," Harry paused and stared at his fingers, this would probably make Tonks think he was crazy, "well...It's like...Is it possible to speed yourself up? Or slow down time everywhere but around you?"

Tonks blinked slowly and tilted her head to the side, "You know, it's against the law to play around with temporal items without authorisation from the Department of Mysteries."

"I'm not!" Harry half yelled, "I haven't been! I don't have anything that would do that."

"Then what are you talking about?" Tonks asked, now thoroughly confused.

"I don't know. It feels like I'm reading normally but it's actually quicker than I think because less time has passed than should have passed while I'm reading than normally passes when this doesn't happen and I read as much as I did."

"You know, there are spells that would implode my brain quicker than this will."

"Gah!" Harry exclaimed eloquently, "I'm not explaining right. Ok. When I sat down to read before dinner the other day I finished the book and was half way through the second before my aunt called for me."

"Ok, that doesn't sound so special." Tonks said, the confused look still on her heart shaped face.

"Yeah, but the amount of time I read that much in is! I only had two hours until dinner but I read all that."

"So you read quickly, what's the big deal?"

"Tonks! I read a six hundred page book and half of a four hundred page book in just under two hours!"

"Ok, that doesn't sound so normal." Tonks allowed, frowning now.

"But there's more," Harry continued, "That night I finished the rest of that book, another five hundred page book then all of my books from first to third year before I got a headache and went to sleep around two am. I read all of those books in about six or seven hours."

Tonks' frown deepened, "That _really_ doesn't sound normal. I've never heard of that. Not without using some kind of time slowy, speedy, messer upper doohicky."

Harry raised an eyebrow and grinned, "Careful Tonks, you're getting all technical on me."

"Shush!" she mumbled with a pout.

Harry, still grinning, raised his hand to his scar and rubbed it slightly, causing Tonks to be put instantly on edge.

"Is something wrong?" she asked warily.

"Hmm?" Harry hummed, dropping his hand and looking confused.

"You were rubbing your scar."

"I was?" Harry asked, surprised, "I didn't realise. It's nothing though, just been tingling for a while."

"If you're sure then?" at Harry's nod, she continued, "So any other details of your fantastical, time bending, book reading?"

Harry smiled at the quirky witch and then frowned, "There is something else, but I'm not totally sure it's got anything do with it." Harry said carefully.

"Oh? Care to share?" Tonks said with a grin.

"Um...Well I guess I could show you?" he said, still unsure as to why he was sharing all of this with Tonks.

At her eager nod, Harry reached down beside his chair and picked up the backpack he brought the day before. A few seconds of rummaging and he pulled out one of the duelling books he had finished last night. He handed it to Tonks and told her to pick a page at random.

Though slightly confused, she did so, "Page one hundred and thirty eight."

Harry thought for a second then started talking. Tonks' eyes grew wider and wider as Harry vocalised the words on the page as she was reading them, not getting a single one wrong or skipping any. He reached the bottom of the page and looked at the shocked witch, a guarded expression on his face.

"How did you do that?" she asked, shocked.

"I don't know! That's why I'm telling you about it, to see if you know. I can just..remember it! It's like I've just read the page a few times and handed the book to you." he explained.

Tonks thought for a moment, "Well, it sounds like you have a photographic memory or maybe some kind of information retrieval thing going on."

Harry was about to ask more about that when he was cut off by a bright flash of fire a few feet from him. He jumped up, pulling his wand from his pocket, while Tonks fell backwards in shock, though also managing to get her wand out.

"Fawkes!" Harry smiled, lowering his wand. His face dropped when he saw the letter the Phoenix was carrying. Fawkes dropped it on the chair next to Harry, gave a short trill and disappeared in another flash of flames.

"That was sudden." Tonks said from her slightly undignified position on the floor. Harry offered her a hand up then wearily opened the letter and started reading.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_I hope this letter finds you well and that you are enjoying your summer break._

_I am writing to inform you that Professor Snape will be continuing your Occlumency lessons with you this summer. You are well aware of the importance of these lessons and I am sure I don't need to remind you what happened after you failed to apply yourself in your previous lessons._

_Professor Snape will be arriving at your home at 10am this coming Saturday and will continue with lessons twice a week throughout the summer or until such time as he feels you have sufficiently mastered shielding your mind from intrusion._

_I look forward to hearing of your progress from Professor Snape._

_Sincerely,_

_Headmaster Dumbledore_

As he finished reading Harry slowly crumpled the letter into a ball and squeezed it in his fist.

"Harry?" Tonks asked timidly, putting a hand on his shoulder. He was standing stiff as a board and trembling slightly. However what really worried her was the tingling waves of magic currently assaulting her senses. "Harry?" she tried again, "Harry come on, what is it?"

Harry gave a wordless snarl and threw the balled up letter to the ground where it promptly burst into flames. Tonks jumped away from it but Harry barely noticed. He was currently stalking through the back garden and around the front of the house.

"Harry wait!" Tonks called, rushing after him, "Harry! You're not meant to go anywhere!"

Harry wasn't listening. He was striding quickly down Privet Drive and towards Wisteria Walk, muttering obscene comments about his esteemed headmaster that would have made a sailor blush. Reaching his intended destination he started hammering on the door just as Tonks showed up behind him.

"Yes? Oh Harry! Hello dear." a batty looking woman said as she answered her door.

"Afternoon Mrs. Figg, may I use your Floo please?" Harry asked politely, though none of the magic flowing from him or the hardness of his face had lessened since he had received the letter.

Mrs. Figg glanced quickly between Harry's anger filled eyes and Tonks' concerned face before nodding, "Of course dear. Powder is in the blue pot on the mantle."

"Thank you."

Tonks followed after Harry with a nod to Mrs. Figg. Harry reached the fireplace and grabbed the pot of floo powder.

"Harry where are you-"

Harry chucked a handful of powder into the fire and called out "Hogwarts, Headmaster's Office" before stepping into the green flames and whooshing away. Tonks blinked, grabbed a handful of powder and quickly followed.

*****

After spinning round and round for a minute, Tonks fell forwards out of the fireplace and somehow managed to keep upright, a rare victory for the klutzy young Auror. She immediately heard someone shouting.

"...Barmy old bastard! Who the hell do you think you are to dictate my life to me? You are the headmaster of a school! Unless it has escaped your senile notice, it's the summer holidays! You have no say over what I do!"

The headmaster was sitting behind his desk with a deep frown on his face and what looked like the shattered remains of a cup of tea in front of him.

"Harry, I am looking out for your best interests." he said, putting on his best grandfatherly voice.

"Best interests? BEST INTERESTS?! How the fuck is you getting the Dark Lord Greasy to mindfuck me 'looking out for my best interests'?!" Harry bellowed.

Tonks staggered slightly under the waves of magic flowing from the teen in front of her and nearly jumped out of her skin when the teapot on the headmaster's desk exploded.

"Mr. Potter!" the headmaster shouted, "Control yourself this instant!"

Harry just growled.

"It is important that you let _Professor Snape_ teach you how to protect your mind, as you well know!"

"He couldn't teach a troll how to smell bad!" Harry spat.

"Professor Snape is an accomplished master occlumens and a capable teacher. He was unable to teach you before because of your unwillingness to learn. I hope that now you have seen the consequences of your reluctance to learn you will accept the help that Professor Snape has been trying to give you." the headmaster retorted hotly.

Harry, who had been leaning over the headmasters desk, stood straight up as if hit with a full body bind. Tonks jumped and pulled her wand out as there was a large crunching sound and the cupboard she was leaning next to smashed open. Harry spun towards the noise and reflexively caught the large item that was flying towards him. He looked down in shock at the pensieve in his hands. It was exactly what he was wanting but he didn't mean to summon it to himself.

"Mr. Potter! That is a very rare and delicate magi-"

"Shut up!" Harry snapped, pulling out his wand and pointing it at his temple. He pulled it away while thinking of his 'lessons' with Snape. With a wet plop he dropped the silvery strand into the rune covered bowl. He followed the same procedure several more times before putting his wand away and thumping the pensieve down on the desk in front of him.

"Get in there!" Harry growled at the headmaster.

"Mr. Po-"

"GET YOUR WRINKLED OLD ARSE IN THAT BOWL BEFORE I MAKE YOU!" Harry nearly screamed. Tonks ducked as all the books in a nearby bookcase flew across the room and smacked into the opposite wall.

Whether it was the threat or wanting to limit the damage to his office, Dumbledore touched his hand to the memories in the pensive and was sucked inside. Harry, who wanted to make sure the headmaster actually watched what he had put in, mimicked the old man's actions and joined him in the memory.

Tonks chewed her lip for a second, unsure of what to do. She glanced around the office and saw Fawkes watching her.

"Think I should join them?" she asked the beautiful creature.

Fawkes gave a short trill that made her feel warm and tingly inside. Taking that for a yes, she quickly made her way over to the desk. She looked into the pensive and saw what she thought was a potions classroom full of people. She shrugged and stuck her finger into the liquid-like mist.

She spun head over heels before silently landing next to a pissed off looking Harry and a confused looking Dumbledore. She looked around and noticed she was standing in one of the potions classrooms. Looking closer she gasped as she spotted a much younger looking Harry. She had to hold herself back from squealing _'How cute!!'_. She then noticed a familiar hooked nose bastard who was speaking at the front of the classroom.

"_...isn't everything." _he sneered. "_Lets try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"_

Tonks looked at the young Harry and could clearly see he had no idea where you would find a Bezoar. She watched through the next few minutes as Snape asked more questions and berated Harry for not knowing the answers.

"Harry, I don't see-" started the headmaster, only to be cut off by Harry.

"Shut up and watch. Talk after." he thought for a second then asked, "Though you can tell me how to fast forward this thing."

"Hold your wand out in front of you and twirl it slowly to the right. Lower your wand to stop."

Harry did so and the memory progressed though the lesson. Tonks watched as the class started a simple looking potion, at which point Harry lowered his wand and the memory resumed playing at normal speed. Memory Harry was carefully measuring something into his cauldron while Snape told the class to look at something Malfoy had done, suddenly a cloud of acid green smoke started billowing from the desk along from where young Harry was working. She continued watching as a young Harry was shouted at for failing to tell the cauldron melting boy not to add something.

The scene inside the pensive started to blur and shift and Tonks heard Harry say "Not bad for my first ever potions lesson, eh?" to the headmaster.

Tonks continued watching the various memories of different potions lessons as Snape belittled memory Harry and his work. He wasn't much different from how he had been in her school days, only he seemed more vindictive towards Harry.

She watched as more memories moved by, showing Snape's lack of teaching and his constant belittling of Harry. She saw Harry lose points and have a book confiscated when Snape made up a rule about library books not being allowed outside. She watched as Snape took points from Harry throughout the rest of his first year and second year. She saw him apparently covering for one of Professor Lupins lessons in what must have been Harry's third year, insulting Hermione and nearly driving the girl to tears. She got rather angry as Snape threatened to dose Harry with Veritaserum, something that is closely monitored by the Ministry.

Finally the memories came round to ones with a Harry that looked most like the current version.

"This is my very first Occlumency lesson. Note that I know nothing of how to shield my mind going in to this lesson." Harry said to the headmaster.

Tonks watched as Snape insulted Harry for his lack of knowledge in this rather obscure branch of magic. When he pulled out his wand and entered Harry's mind without even trying to tell Harry how to stop him, she cried out in outrage, making the two wizards in the pensive with her jump. Apparently they didn't realise she was there.

The rest of the lesson played out along with two more. One glance at the headmasters stony expression told Tonks he was not pleased. The memories ended and started to play over and Dumbledore showed them how to exit the pensive by raising their wands over their heads.

Tonks slowly exited the pensive and stared around the headmasters office. Judging from the rosy red the walls were glowing, they had been in the pensive for several hours and the sun was now setting.

"That useless bastard hasn't changed his _teaching_ style at all since I left here." Tonks said when no one else was saying or doing anything, "Though he does seem to be more vindictive with Harry. Smashing his potion samples and vanishing his work like that? That just isn't on. And don't even get me started on those Occlumency lessons! If I were to take those memories into Madam Bones office she'd have an arrest warrant drawn up quicker than you can blink! Don't even get me started on what the Council of Mind Arts would do if they got wind of this."

"That wont be necessary Nymphadora." the headmaster said softly.

"Her name is Tonks!" Harry spat.

"Um, yeah." Tonks said, looking at Harry oddly, "Please don't call me that professor."

Dumbledore simply nodded before looking at Harry, "Harry, I had no idea he was not teaching you Occulmency correctly. I will have a stern word with him over it."

"And the rest?" Harry snarled, "Did you sleep through the potions lessons or something? Do you have nothing to say about his teaching methods?"

The headmaster looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding, "I will have a word with him about that also. Rest assured, he will teach you Occlumency correctly from now on."

"HE WILL NOT BE TEACHING ME AT ALL!" Harry yelled, slamming his fist onto the desk.

"I have to say Dumbledore, I don't think Snape should be teaching Harry." Tonks said.

"Why exactly are you here Nympha-" Harry growled and the windows rattled slightly, "-Tonks. You are meant to be on guard duty."

Tonks blinked at the headmaster in shock, "Um, in case you didn't know, this," she pointed to Harry, "is Harry Potter, the person you ordered me to guard. As you can see, he is in your office, therefore, I am in your office guarding him."

The headmaster frowned and turned back to Harry, "Harry, you know these lessons are important. Professor Sn-"

"Get someone else to do it!" Harry snapped.

"There is no on-"

"FIND someone else! I refuse to have that greasy git fucking around inside my head!" Harry half snarled, half growled. Tonks thought he sounded rather like a pissed off animal, it was both scary and a tur...Tonks blushed and quickly returned her mind to the conversation.

"Mr. Potter, you will be receiving Occlumency lessons from Professor Snape, starting this Saturday!" the headmaster insisted.

"Go to hell!" Harry snapped.

"Mr. Potter I have had enough with your disrespect! You will be having the lessons every Wednesday and Saturday this summer and that is final!"

Harry's glare could have cut through steel, "Then I guess I'll just have to be indisposed every Wednesday and Saturday this summer."

"You are not to leave your relatives home and you will be having the lessons!" the headmaster snapped, finally losing his patience and standing up, hands on the desk in front of him and leaning towards Harry.

Harry snarled again, "You have no right to tell me where I can and can't go!"

He turned around and marched towards the fireplace. Seeing no floo powder he turned to the headmaster.

"Powder."

"I'm afraid I can't let you leave until we have sorted this out." he replied, slipping into his grandfatherly voice once more.

Harry simply turned away again and started towards the office door. Tonks watched as the headmaster pulled out his wand and flicked it towards the doors, making them flash a dull blue for half a second.

Harry reached them and tugged fruitlessly on the handle.

"Open the door old man." he said quietly, not looking away from where his hand rested on the door handle.

"No Harry, I think you should come and sit down."

Tonks coughed slightly, making the headmaster look at her, "Dumbledore, um, you know...Legally you can't force him to stay here..."

Dumbledore gave her a pitying look and turned back to Harry. The disrespect made the young Aurors hair slowly bleed into an angry red.

"Harry," he called to the teen, "Please come-"

"I am giving you one last chance to open this door before you manage to push me over the edge." Harry nearly whispered, though everyone in the office heard.

Dumbledore raised his eyebrow, "Sit down Harry."

Harry gave a wordless yell and punched the door, there was a nasty sounding crack as one or more of the bones in his hand broke, there was also a bright white flash. Where his fist connected with the solid wood of the door, white lines started snaking out, pushing back against a bluish glow. Tonks was about to say something when the doors suddenly burst outwards in a deafening explosion of splintering wood. She saw the shocked look on Harry's face before it returned to anger and he stomped out of the office. Tonks looked at the headmaster's shocked expression and then looked back at the doorway Harry had just exited.

"Well," she muttered, "He did ask you to open it."

The headmaster snapped his head round to Tonks and frowned, "I believe you are meant to be guarding him."

Tonks scowled and walked out of the doorway, over the bits of wood that used to be two impressive looking doors. She had just reached the top step of the revolving staircase when she heard what she thought was the school sorting hat.

"Congratulations headmaster, you are now the proud owner of the worlds largest collection of thousand year old toothpicks."

Tonks laughed all the way down the stairs.

*****

The agonised screaming echoed through the hallways and bounced around in every room, setting hairs on end and making some of the newer recruits shake. It had been going on for over three hours now, though to Martin Hammersmith, it felt like days, weeks even.

He gave a low moan and coughed up blood, both from ripping his throat open with screams and the numerous internal injuries he had suffered.

Internal injuries were not Mr. Hammersmith's only injuries though. Far, far from it. His legs were nothing but shapeless, fleshy lumps, the bones long since shattered into hundreds of pieces from numerous methodically placed bone breaking hexes. His right hand and arm was in a similar condition, this time from bone exploding curses. His left arm was totally missing after being slowly cut through with very low powered cutting spells. Any hope of having more children went out of the window about two hours back, both figuratively and literally, _'Food for the crows'_ his tormentor had laughed.

Another spell hit him and he groaned in pain, coughing and vomiting up more blood.

"Aaah," hissed his tormentor, "Looks like we finally broke that last pesky rib."

Hammersmith just groaned. Mostly in pain, though that voice was starting to annoy him. Unused to hearing the Dark Lords voice, Hammersmith found it hard to ignore the draw out 's' of his words. Not only did the Dark Lord look like a snake, he sounded like one as well.

"I shall ask you again," the voice hissed from the darkness. Of course, everything was darkness now, the curses that melted his eyes from their sockets had taken care of that. "How would I bypass the blood wards?"

Blood wards. Detection wards. Prevention wards. Wards, wards, wards. That was all his life had been about, and now it was all his death would be about. Since leaving Hogwarts thirty six years ago, Martin had been involved with wards. Learning about them, breaking them, making them, laying them down, ripping them up, modifying them. You think of something to do with a ward and Hammersmith had done it. He had worked with the Goblins and the Ministry, putting down wards and ripping up others for both parties as well as helping his friends with warding their homes.

Now he wished he had gone into a different field of study. Maybe Kneazle breeding. Then maybe Voldemort's servants wouldn't have ambushed him. Then maybe he would see his children again, hold his wife in his arms, breathe without pain. But he wouldn't. Martin knew he was a dead man the moment he realised the men who had grabbed him were wearing white face masks.

Another hiss from the darkness, another explosion of pain and another tooth ripped out, this one shooting out of his left cheek and leaving a bloody hole in it.

"When I ask a question, you will answer me!" Voldemort hissed.

Voldemort. Martin had never given in to calling him You-Know-Who, the Dark Lord, He-Who-Has-Too-Many-Hyphens or any other stupid name the press had cooked up. He firmly believed Albus Dumbledore in that fear of a name only increased fear of the thing itself. Of course, this 'thing' was scary enough without it's name. Those red slanted eyes seemed burned into his memory. They were the last thing he had seen before his eyesight was taken from him. Oh how he wished it had been his wife's eyes, his children's faces.

"Ah...dunt....no..." Martin forced out of his ruined mouth. He had never though about how hard it would be to talk with a broken jaw. Or only six remaining teeth. Or no lips.

The Dark Lord gave yet another angry yell and threw another _Crucio_. Martin flopped around on the floor in agony, his flailing disturbing other wounds and adding to the mind numbing pain.

"I grow tired of you!" the darkness hissed, "You will give me the answers I seek!"

"Furk...yoo...ahth hul."

Ah, another _Crucio_, this one didn't seem as bad as the first few dozen. Maybe his mind was finally starting to shut down. He hoped so.

"Still defiant as ever?" Voldemort hissed, anger and frustration in his voice. Martin would have smiled at that if he still could have. "If I ever find your family they will suffer worse than you unless you give me what I desire!"

Martin gave a gurgling, stuttering, pain filled laugh. If he ever found them? Ha! As soon as he first heard Dumbledore claiming that Voldemort was back again he had upgraded the already extensive wards on his home. Every protection ward he knew, and he knew many, had been added to his ward set. Every way of hiding his home had been added after that, including the Fidelius. The secret, thankfully, contained within both him and his wife, a modification he spent months working on. The chances of Voldemort finding his home was laughable, so that was what Martin did.

He was still gurgling his way through a laugh when he heard another voice speak up.

"Mm-m-Master?" the voice asked timidly.

"What do you want Wormtail?" the Dark Lord hissed

Wormtail. The one with the silver hand. He was still here was he? He had been one of the men who grabbed him as he left the tomb he was working in. That was three days ago. Or a month. Or an year. He wasn't sure any more. The pain never seemed to stop and had warped his sense of time. Hours seemed to pass under the Cruciatus, but they could have been seconds. Oh, the Worm was talking again.

"..ve Potters blood. The r-r-ritual used it to make your n-new body, so you have it, you c-could pass the wards to him." the rat like man stammered.

Potter? This was all about getting to the Boy-Who-Lived? Martin would have smiled again if he could have. His refusal to submit to the Dark Lord had helped protect Howard Potter's grandson. Maybe now he would finally be able to pay off the life debt he owed, at least in part.

"CRUCIO!" screamed the Dark Lord, and Martin heard someone fall to the floor screaming. It lasted only a few seconds, much to Martins dissatisfaction. That silver handed arse deserved more.

"Why did you not speak of this sooner Wormtail?" Voldemort demanded, "Were you perhaps trying to protect the boy?"

"No master! Never!" the pitiful man whimpered, "I did not think of it until just now!"

"You are as incompetent as you are stupid!"

Martin gave a louder laugh at this, oh the hypocrisy!

"Something amuses you, filth?" the Dark Lord hissed.

Martin sat up as much as he was able. If he got this just right then Voldemort might just kill him.

"Yersh," the broken man nodded, "Yoo cal...'im...stoopit...fur...nurt thinkin urf...tha'...soo-nar..." he took a painful breath and forced himself to continue, "bur...yoo murst be stoopit too den....cuth...yoo didunt...think urf..it...furst...." he fell back to the floor, wheezing and spluttering out a laugh. He really hoped that had earned him his death.

He smiled as much as he could he heard the death curse screamed out, anyone watching would have seen the corners of the two empty sockets lift up anyway. The last thing he remembered before nothingness took him, was the faces of his family, smiling and waving from their securely warded home.

*****

Harry stormed out of the headmasters office, stomping over the toothpick sized bits of door. He really had no idea how he had done that. All he had been meaning to do was yell at Dumb-old-git some more and he punched the door in anger. How was he to know his magic would up and blast the thing to bits?

He was heading down a corridor towards one of the staircases leading to the entrance hall and outside, when a wave of dizziness and fatigue hit him. He sat down on the top step and put his head in his left hand, the right was throbbing painfully and he cradled it to his chest.

"That could have gone better." he sighed.

"I'll say." said Tonks, coming up behind him.

Not hearing her approaching, Harry jumped up in shock. Already being dizzy, the head rush this gave him nearly made him pass out, not something you want to happen at the top of a staircase. Tonks darted forward and grabbed the front of Harry's tshirt, yanking him back towards her forcefully. Too forcefully. Harry, already dizzy and light headed, was unable to stop himself from starting to fall forwards onto Tonks. Tonks, unable to walk along a flat, even, surface without tripping at least twice, tried to catch him but got tangled in her own feet and fell over, pulling Harry down on top of her.

"Oomph!" grunted Tonks as Harry fell on top of her.

"Arg!" hissed Harry as he smacked his right hand on the ground in an attempt to stop himself.

"I say!" yelled a passing portrait who glanced out at the wrong time. "That is completely inappropriate behaviour!"

Tonks blushed a deep red, as did her hair. Harry quickly rolled off of her and sprang to his feet as he too blushed red, though his hair stayed black.

"You ok?" he asked, not quite meeting her eyes.

"Fine. Your hand all right? It sounded like you might have broken something." Tonks asked, concern flooding her voice.

Harry, reminded of his hand and thus the cause of it, scowled. "If he sent you down here to bring-"

"Cram it Potter." she cut in, "I'm here to watch your arse, not drag you back. I happen to think you are well within your rights to storm out of there. Wish I could storm out of a room like that. Every time I get angry, I cry."

"Err..." hummed Harry, unsure exactly what to say to that, "O...k?"

"Gimmie a hand up."

Harry thrust his left hand down to the grounded Auror and pulled her to her feet.

"Cheers ducks! Now lets take a look at that hand of yours." she said, pulling out her wand with a smile.

Harry reluctantly held out his hand and Tonks started casting spells over it. His hand lit up blue and he could see the bones underneath the flesh.

"Hmm..." Tonks hummed, "Well I'm no expert, but I think _that_," she tapped the back of his hand with her wand and there was a soft yellow glow, followed by a green flash, "should fix it!" she finished and grinned.

Harry flexed his fingers and clenched his fist, feeling only the slightest of aches.

"No stay in the hospital wing for you today oh boy-who-lived-to-spend-all-his-time-in-the-hospital-wing!" the Auror chirped.

"What? You mean you wont be giving me a sponge bath?" Harry teased playfully, poking his tongue out. He thought Tonks would laugh and swing a friendly punch at him, or maybe pull her favourite trick and hit the backs of his knees with a tickling charm, something she had found he stood no chance over while at Number Twelve last Christmas. He didn't expect her to blush, look down and mumble something at her boots.

"Er...Tonks? I was just kidding." he said, suddenly nervous. "_Did that upset her?"_ he wondered to himself.

"Yeah, ha ha, good one twerp!" she said in a slightly louder than normal voice after a fake sounding laugh, looking up at him and grinning widely, though it didn't quite reach her eyes.

Harry frowned but shrugged it off. "_Girls...Or in this case, women." _he thought, "_Or maybe in this case it's just Tonks?"_ his mind flashed to Hermione, then to Cho, "_No, definitely women. They're all insane." _He shook his head to clear his thoughts then smiled.

"Come on, I want to get out of here before I change my mind and give Dumbledore a few new holes to breathe out of." Harry said, starting down the stairs.

"You really are pissed at him, aren't you?" Tonks asked, carefully navigating the complex obstacle that is staircases as she followed Harry.

Harry didn't say anything for a few moments, "He..." he paused and flashed a look at Tonks from the corner of his eye, "He has done many things that have upset me, they came to a head at the end of the year when he told me...Some things."

Tonks nodded and resisted the impulse to reach out and grab Harry's hand. "_Purely for his comfort of course."_ she told herself, "_For him. To let him know you're there if he needs you. As a friend." _Her thoughts continued along this vein for some time, until Harry nudged her.

"Hello? Tonks?" he called, "I said do you want to apparate us back or shall we Floo from the Three Broomsticks?"

Tonks blinked and looked around, they were standing about twenty foot outside of the school gates on the road to Hogsmeade.

"Woah, I guess I zoned out..."

"I guess you did." Harry agreed with a smile, "So about our travel plans?"

"Travel plans?" Tonks asked, thoroughly confused.

Harry chuckled and shook his head, then once again repeated his question.

"Ever been apparated before?"

"Not that I can remember."

Tonks' grin widened considerably, "Great! I get to be the one to pop your cherry!" she cried, giving a lascivious wink. Harry blushed like a Weasley while looking anywhere but at the flirty young witch in front of him. Said witch laughed out loud and grabbed his arm firmly.

Harry had never yet found a magical mode of transport that he liked. Apparating had now been added to the list. It felt like he was being tightly squeezed from all sides and had the vague feeling of moving forward rather quickly. He supposed this must be what water felt like when moving through a pipe. A moment later he appeared in a clump of bushes and promptly fell over. As Tonks had been apparating for several years, and side along apparating with her mother and father for years before that, she only manage to stumble slightly.

"Doing ok down there Harry?" she asked, fighting back laughter.

"Fine." grumbled Harry, picking himself up and brushing dead leaves from his clothing, "Just like bloody floo travel. And Portkeys. Can't wizards find some way to transport themselves that doesn't involve falling on the floor afterwards?"

Tonks let some of her laughter bubble out, "Most people don't fall over. I think you must have one leg shorter than the other."

"Interesting observation coming from the girl who can trip over a blade of grass." Harry smirked.

"I am a woman thank you very much!" Tonks said in a haughty voice, sticking her nose in the air and choosing to ignore the completely true dig at her clumsiness.

"Can't tell." Harry snickered.

"Oi!" Tonks protested, "Waddaya call these then?" she asked, pointing to her chest. As Harry automatically looked down, Tonks rapidly grew her chest until it looked like she had two beach balls shoved under her Weird Sisters tshirt.

Harry's blush could probably have lit a dark room, causing Tonks to laugh hard, losing her concentration and making her boobs shrink down to their normal proportions. Harry was now inspecting his shoes as if they were the most fascinating thing in the world, causing Tonks more laughter.

"Come on Harry!" she called, turning and walking out of the bushes, "Lets get a move on! And quit checking out my cute butt!"

Harry, snapping his head up at the accusation, caught sight of Tonks giving her hips an extra swing as she winked back at him over her shoulder. Cursing flirtatious witches, Harry followed her towards Number Four.

*****

Voldemort looked up at the knock on his chamber door and hissed quietly in annoyance. He was currently reading over a report one of his minions had given him after carefully checking the ward work around the Potter brat.

"Enter." he hissed, looking back down at the parchment.

He heard someone shuffle closer to him and the swish of clothing as the person sank to their knees in front of his desk.

"I sent for you over an hour ago Bellatrix," he hissed slowly, keeping his eyes on the parchment, "Why have you kept me waiting?"

"I am sorry my lord," Bellatrix Lestrange said in her rough voice, "I was..."

"I know what you were doing Bella," Voldemort interrupted, "Lord Voldemort knows all."

"Of course my lord." Bellatrix assured, bowing lower, her brow barely above the floor.

"Tell me, my dear, sweet Bellatrix," Voldemort whispered, finally looking up from his book, "Why do you think you can keep me waiting, just so you can play with your toys?

Bellatrix shuddered in sweet anticipation, she knew she was about to be punished by her master and felt a tingle start between her legs.

"Master," she started, "I was-" she cut off with a loud, half moan half scream as Voldemort's wand flicked towards her, hitting her with a strong _Crucio_. A few seconds later the curse was lifted.

"I am not sure that curse has much of an effect on you Bella." he told the heavily panting witch. He smiled a sick smile as he watched her unconsciously slide her hand up her body and roughly squeeze at a breast. He really did like Bella, she was so...Enjoyable.

"Mmm...No master," she panted, "No...It is most effective."

"I meant as a punishment, not a sex aid." Voldemort said with a sickly smile.

Bellatrix gave an insane giggle and looked up at her master. "Can't it be both, master?" Voldemort smiled wider.

"Perhaps later Bella," he allowed, "If you complete this task for me."

"I am yours to command, my lord."

"I know." the Dark Lord smiled, "Now, I have discovered a way to reach the Potter boy. However after reading over a report on the wards around his home it would appear that I, and I alone, will be able to pass the wards and choke the life from his worthless body."

"That is good news my lord, but what is the problem?" Bellatrix questioned.

"The meddling fool Dumbledore has placed wards around Potter's home that will...forcefully discourage...any of my marked followers from getting near it. I am not marked, only the blood wards would have kept me out and I have a way past them."

"Then what may I do for you my lord?" the insane witch asked. She was still groping at herself, much to her lords pleasure. Maybe he would allow Bellatrix to...service him before he sent her on to her task.

"There are wards that would detect me after I had passed them. There is no way around them. I have no doubt that after I pass them, Dumbledore and his band of fools would show up in an attempt to stop me." Voldemort gave an angry scowl at the memory of the last time he and Dumbledore had crossed wands just a week prior, "I find myself in need of a distraction."

"You wish for me to draw up plans to attack somewhere?" Bellatrix asked quickly, staring up at her master with a joyous look on her face.

"No my dear," Voldemort whispered, "I wish for you to track down the location of Potter's pet mudblood. What's her name? Grander? Grader? Gardener?"

"Granger, my lord."

He hissed, he did not like being corrected. Thoughts of punishing his servant were pushed from his head when he saw the hungry look in her eyes, her pupils dilated in pleasure. Oh how he liked this particular witch.

"Yes," he hissed, "Find where she lives, draw up a plan to attack her. We are running low on Death Eaters after Lucius' incompetence at the Ministry last week. I'm sure you will be able to _dig up_ an attack force from somewhere."

"Oh yes my lord!" Bellatrix crooned happily, a silly grin on her face.

"Good. Now come here Bella, I have a need for your...Talents."

*****

Harry had not long ago bid goodbye to Tonks. She had stayed late, long after Dedalus Diggle had come to relieve her of guard duty. When the short man had told Tonks that Dumbledore said they were not meant to have any contact with Harry, the young wizard, who had overheard the comment, had simply responded with: "Fuck him."

He and Tonks had talked for the rest of the evening and into the night about all kinds of topics, ranging from her time at Hogwarts and later at the Auror Academy, to how much of a sci-fi nut her father is. The Dursley's had not been very pleased with their unexpected dinner guest. Uncle Vernon, sans make-up, started shouting loudly about freaks, bitches and Harry costing them a fortune. This lasted precisely forty two seconds, at which point Tonks pulled her wand out and stunned the large man. Dudley screamed and fled the house, yelling that he was staying the night at a friends. Petunia simply fainted on the spot. Harry and Tonks didn't have any further problems after that.

Harry snickered at the memory and returned to his list. It was a _very_ important list. He had been thinking it over since leaving Dumbledore's office. He had still been thinking of it while he and Tonks were talking, though he didn't let on as such.

He thought for a second and then nodded, adding another item to the bottom of the list.

A slow grin spread over Harry's face and a dark chuckle spilled from his lips.

"Let's see what the old bastard thinks of this."

--

**A/N:** Hello again! Hope you liked this chapter. I know there is still not a whole lot happening but things are unfolding! Things will kick off soon, honest!

Thank you to all the people who left reviews! I tried to reply to them all, even if it was just to say thank you, but I'm sure I missed one or two. Sorry if I missed anyone! Thank you to all those who added me and the story to their lists as well.

About the torture scene in this chapter...In my plans for CH2 I simply put "_voldey talking to people over blood wards. torturing a curse breaker for info."_. Of course I would have needed to expand on that, however I didn't mean to expand quite that much or in such a...graphic way. I had first just pictured Voldey sitting on his throne, a curse breaker at his feet getting the odd _Crucio_. However, as you all have just read, it didn't go like that. Once I started typing I just kept on going. I think it was because I've never done a torture scene before and I wanted to see how well I would do. Reading back over it, I'm happy. If you have comments on it then please feel free to review or PM. I'd like to know if people thought it was too much, not enough, or just right. I could have gone into more detail, but I could have gone into less. I guess I need to know what people think of it so I know better for future scenes. Remember, this is rated M and I want it to be fairly....Dark.

Anyway, as to the rest, I hope you enjoyed it. Please review your thoughts. Every review makes me smile but the best ones give me details! What did you like? What didn't you like? Where did I screw up? How could I improve?

Thanks go to my reviewers, they kept me all happy and bouncy this week meaning I wrote lots more. I actually added about 1,200 words (Not counting this AN) to this chapter while on my final check before posting.

Oh and a quick note on chapter lengths. I don't have a set number of words to get to each chapter, though I do have a strict rule of 'Minimum 5,000 words', but that's about it. And to be honest, 5,000 words is easy. This chapter is about the same as CH1 but that wasn't exactly by design. Just a warning...Lengths will vary!

I'm now going to go write some more of CH3 and get all excited every time I get an alert email.

Ciao for now!


	3. Plans

**Disclaimer:** I am not Rowling. I am a beautiful and unique snowflake! I do not own Harry Potter, but I _do_ own this lovely padded helmet! Mummy says it keeps my face beautiful.

**Chapter 3: Plans**

Harry looked down at his short but important list. He'd finished it late the previous night and stashed it in the small space under the loose floorboard beneath his bed. He couldn't take the chance that someone might find it, however unlikely that might be. This short, nine point list would enable him to get out from under Dumbledore's rule and get him some of the training he needed. Or so he hoped. He just needed to get to point nine first.

Following step one, he sat down at his desk, inked his quill and started scratching out a letter. A few minutes later he nodded and called his oldest friend over to him.

"Hey girl," he mumbled, stroking his owls soft breast feathers, "Up to delivering a letter for me?"

Hedwig gave a low bark followed by a stern look, making him chuckle.

"Of course you are," he smiled, "Silly of me to even ask isn't it?"

Hedwig barked again and bobbed her head several times, making Harry laugh. He stroked her for a few more minutes and gave her an owl treat before carrying her over to the window and sending her on her way.

"Step one, complete." he said to himself with a grin.

Walking over to his desk he grabbed his new black cloak from the back of the rickety chair and slipped it into his now empty backpack which was then slung on his back. Next he kicked his trunk open and rifled through it until he pulled out his invisibility cloak which he tucked under his arm before slipping his money bag into his pocket.

Consulting his list one last time he nodded to himself, took a deep breath, then left his room. He quietly crept downstairs, avoided the creaky bottom step and listened carefully. From the sounds the TV was making in the living room, Dudley wasn't in and Aunt Petunia most certainly was _not_ watching _'those dreadful soaps everyone is always making such a pointless fuss over.'_ Uncle Vernon would be at work by now so the only person he had to sneak past was whoever was on guard outside.

"_I really hope it isn't Moody."_ Harry thought as he slipped his invisibility cloak on and tiptoed towards the kitchen. Reaching the back door he crossed his fingers and eased it open just enough for his slim frame to slide through.

He held in place by the back step to see if the guard would check and see why the door opened without anything going in or out. A minute passed, then another. As the third minute passed with no sign of any Order members checking the door, Harry slowly walked along the path towards the back fence, careful not to step on the grass where his footprints would have been visible.

Harry carefully made his way around to the back of the shed and into the foot wide gap between it and the back fence. Taking a quick look back into the garden to double check for guards, he pulled out a loose nail from the bottom of the fence panel. He pushed his foot against it and grinned when it silently swung away, hinging on the top two nails like a huge cat flap. With one last check of the garden, Harry crouched down, pushed against the panel and slid out of the gap into the back garden of the house in the next street over.

Having done this many times when younger, Harry knew how to sneak through the back garden of Mrs. Wiltbloom's house without being seen. However this task was made even easier now he was using his Invisibility Cloak as he was through the garden, out of the gate and walking quickly down the road in under thirty seconds.

Harry chuckled to himself as he remembered how angry Dudley and his gang would get when he managed to escape through the fence like that during rounds of 'Harry Hunting'. He never did manage to work out how Harry could escape from an enclosed garden.

Still under the cloak, Harry walked towards the local shops where he knew he would be able to get a bus to the train station, then a train into London. He didn't trust Dumbledore to not have people watching for the Knight Bus being called close to where Harry lived, not after his shopping trip the other day. As uncomfortable as it was, Harry wished he could Apparate as it would make things a lot easier.

"Maybe Tonks would teach me?" he mused as he slipped into an alley and took the cloak off, "I doubt she'd tell the headmaster, not if I asked her not to."

*****

"So, are you going to tell me who this mystery man is or am I going to have to torture it out of you?"

"Mum!" Tonks groaned, "I've told you already, there is no mystery man!"

"Mmhmm." Andromeda Tonks née Black hummed. "I am not your father, Dora. You may be able to fool him but you've never been able to lie to me. Spill!"

Tonks sighed and chewed her lip. She loved coming to visit her parents... Unless her mother got it into her head to badger her about her love life, or lack thereof, as she had obviously done today.

"I don't have a boyfriend." Tonks sighed, wishing she could sound more nonchalant than she did.

Her mother was quick to pick up on the slight wistful tone that her daughter had _almost_ succeeded in hiding. "But you do have someone in mind." Seeing her daughter about to protest she continued. "Don't even try to deny it Dora! You've been mooning over someone for months and I want some answers or so help me, I'll tell your father what really happened to his Star Wars action figures!"

Tonks hung her head and stared into her cup of coffee. Her mother really was far too observant. And she was right, Tonks never could lie convincingly to her. And that threat was really below the belt! How was she to know you shouldn't open first edition toy packaging? And it wasn't _really _her fault that she had swallowed one of their heads. Stupid things shouldn't break so easily. Or be so easy to swallow. Or taste so nice.

"Come on Dora, tell me!"

Tonks chewed her lip. She couldn't tell her mother who it was, but maybe she could get some general advice without giving too much away.

"There might be someone I have my eye on." she said and braced herself.

"HA! I knew it!" Andromeda cried as she engulfed Tonks in a hug. Sitting back down she leant closer and propped her chin on her hands. She really was far too excitable. Maybe it was a curse of the Black family to never grow up? "Come on Dora, tell me everything about him! Is he cute? Is he an Auror as well? How did you meet him? Is he interested? Have you kissed? How long have you known him? Where did you meet? Do I know him?"

Tonks couldn't help her lips twitching up into a quick smile at that last question. Of course her mother knew him. Everyone did. Or rather, knew _of_ him. Tonks thought she knew him fairly well though and not many people could claim the same thing.

Andromeda drew in a long breath and looked like she was about to start bouncing in her chair. "I DO know him! Who is it? Is it your partner, Kingsley? Or someone you met at your fathers work party over new years? Was it that nice Jacobson guy? You know he had a really cute butt!"

"Mother!"

"What?" Andromeda said with an innocent smile. "He did! Now tell me, was it him?"

"No mum, it wasn't him and you haven't met them. And King is just a friend. Partners in work only." Tonks chewed her lip again while debating her next question. "Mum, how would you say I act most of the time?"

"Badly." her mother said immediately. "We still have the video of you playing Dorothy when you were seven. Never seen such bad acting in my entire life. Your teacher was almost in tears."

"Muuuuum!" Tonks whined. She hated that video but she had never been able to find where it was hidden. "Be serious! How _old_ do you think I act?"

"Have you fallen for an older man?" Tonks winced and shook her head. "A younger man?" Tonks nodded and stared firmly at her cup. "How much younger?"

Tonks mumbled something unintelligible.

"Dora," Andromeda said softly, "I can't help if I don't know the problem."

"Cuplayrs." Tonks mumbled.

"Once more for those of us who are not able to speak Doraonian?"

Tonks growled softly and muttered, loud enough to be heard this time, "A couple of years."

"How many is a couple? A couple as in two or a couple as in your fathers idea of 'a couple of minutes'?" Andromeda asked shrewdly.

Tonks giggled at the jab at her father. His timekeeping was atrocious.

"A few more than two." Tonks said, avoiding her mothers gaze by having a staring contest with the table.

"How many is 'a few more than two'?"

Tonks closed her eyes before whispering her answer, "Seven."

Silence. That wasn't good. Tonks pictured the room in her mind and cursed. The door was behind her mother, no escape that way. No one could apparate out unless they were in the small entrance hall, so that was out. Dumbledore would likely throw a hissy fit if she used the emergency portkey each Order member was given.

"Seven years." her mother stated in a neutral tone. "I did hear that right, right? Seven years _younger_ than you?"

Tonks winced and nodded, wishing she had kept her mouth shut.

"So the man you have your eye on isn't so much of a man, but a _boy_?"

"He's very mature. He isn't exactly a boy." Tonks protested weakly.

"He's fifteen years old! Still a child!"

"He'll be sixteen soon!"

"Nymphadora! He's still in school! He's a child. You are an adult. How on earth did you even meet him?"

"He isn't a child. He's grown up far too fast to be a child. He's more mature than the newbie Aurors we got in last month. And can you honestly say that I act my age?" Tonks demanded, now scowling. Why couldn't she have kept her mouth shut? Why?

"No, I can't." her mother said, a smile twitching at her lips. "But honey, can't you see that this is a little... It's... Well it's not right. No matter how mature he acts or how immature you act he is still a schoolboy. And you haven't answered how you met."

"Look mum, I need to be in work soon, we can talk la-"

"Oh no you don't!" Andromeda cut in. "I know you don't need to be in for another two hours. You're not getting out of this that easy. Spill."

With a sigh, Tonks started her tale.

"I spent a lot of last Christmas with... Friends, and Ha... He was there. We had a... Friend in common. We both spent time with that friend and so we spent a lot of time together. We got to know each other. We talked a bunch. Couple of times he'd have coffee or hot chocolate waiting for me when I had to be up early or came in late. He wasn't sleeping much at the time. And..." she trailed off and bit her lip again.

"And?" Andromeda asked, slowly getting excited again despite her reservations.

"And you know how I can sometimes be. I may have been a little... Flirty." Tonks told the tabletop.

"Oh honey!"

"It wasn't my fault! Si... I was being egged on. It was just a joke. Playing about. Ha... the guy would get so embarrassed. He'd go all red and it looked so cute. We were just having a little fun at his expense."

"Only it was more than that." Andromeda said sagely.

"At the time it was just me playing about, but after... Well after he went back to Hogwarts I found myself missing him. More than is normal for a friend to miss another. I kept thinking about him, wondering what he was doing, if he missed me, when I'd get the chance to see him again." Tonks bowed her head and once again chewed her lip.

"Do you know how he feels?"

"No."

Andromeda sighed and swirled the last of her tea in it's cup. She had been happy that her daughter had found interest in someone again. Nymphadora hadn't shown any interest in anyone since her time in Hogwarts, claiming to be too focused on her Auror Training and then her job after. But interest in a boy who was still in school? Should she discourage her daughter or tell her to go for it? Was this a silly crush or something more?

"Do you love him?" Andromeda asked, making Tonks' head snap up quickly.

"I think it's a little soon to think about that, don't you? I don't even know how he feels about me." Tonks asked, looking back down at the table again.

"Good answer. At least you're thinking about this some." Andromeda nodded. "If you got together with him, would you be happy? If he is still in school you wont see him much. And he'll still be living at home. He wont have much money, not that money is all the important if it turns out to be love. Me and your father were near penniless when we married."

Tonks was slowly shaking her head. "Yes, he would make me happy. I'm sure of it."

Andromeda sighed and cupped her daughters cheek in her hand, gently forcing her face up to look into her eyes. "Then follow your heart. If he makes you happy, go get him. Just be careful."

Tonks' smile lit up the room and her hair unconsciously started swirling between blue and green. True, she was twenty two, an Auror, had her own apartment, but she had always been so close to her mother. She confided in her about nearly everything. Her endorsement on this subject was important.

"So," Andromeda said, looking Tonks straight in the eye, "Are you going to tell me his name yet?"

Tonks flinched and looked back down at the table.

"Oh... Well... About that..."

*****

A short bus ride, an uneventful train journey and a quick trip in a taxi later, and Harry strolled through the door of the Leakey Cauldron, the hood of his black cloak pulled far over his face to obscure it from view. He slipped through the noisy pub and out into Diagon Alley without attracting more than a cursory glance from anyone. He quickly made his way down the street towards Gringotts to complete item number two on his very important list.

Upon entering the bank, Harry swiftly made his way over to an unoccupied goblin teller.

"May I help you sir?" the goblin asked with a trademark sneer. Snape had nothing on these guys.

"I need a way to withdraw potentially large amounts of gold from my vault to pay shopkeepers with." Harry said, keeping his voice low.

The goblin looked at Harry as if he were stupid.

"Is there something wrong with your chequebook sir?"

Harry looked at the sneering goblin with confusion. "What chequebook?" he asked.

The goblin sneered slightly wider. He really hated dealing with humans, especially stupid humans. He was starting to regret sleeping with the chief's daughter, getting stuck on Teller duty was far worse than the public flogging he could have chosen instead.

"Every vault owner is given a key and a chequebook when they open an account with us." the goblin explained slowly, as if to a young child.

Harry frowned. He would bet every last knut he had that Dumbledore was the reason behind his missing chequebook.

"Well it would appear that I have...misplaced my book." Harry growled, "How may I go about getting a new one?"

With a melodramatic growl (goblins would never do something so human as sighing) and an even deeper sneer, the goblin reached below the counter and pulled out a small, leather bound pad of parchment. Harry thought it looked very much like the chequebook's he had seen Uncle Vernon using.

"You understand that there will be a ten galleon fee?" the goblin asked.

Harry wordlessly fished the money from his bag and handed over to the foul tempered goblin, who snatched it from his hand like a starving man would grab a Big Mac.

"Please place the key to the vault you wish to link the chequebook to on top of the new booklet." the goblin said in a bored tone after quickly counting the money and stashing it away. Harry did as asked, or ordered, and looked at the goblin expectantly. He received another growl before the goblin spoke again. "Well? Are you going to cut your finger or do you expect me to to it for you? I warn you now, I may slip and end up cutting...your jugular maybe?" he smiled, showing his many sharp teeth.

"Why would I cut my finger?" Harry asked, confused and slightly intimidated. Those teeth looked sharp.

"Do you think we would just hand out new chequebooks to anyone who walked into the bank waving a vault key around?" the goblin snapped, obviously losing what little patience he had to start with, "How do I know you haven't stolen it? The key is linked to your vault, when it was created a single drop of blood would have been collected and used to bond it to you, the same as the chequebook. Seeing as you carelessly lost your last book, you now need to provide another drop of blood to bond the new chequebook to the key and thus, to you and your vault." the goblin grinned a sickly smile, "If you have stolen the key the chequebook's cover will turn black and I will quite happily drive my cutlass through your gut."

"May I please borrow your letter opener?" Harry asked, having nothing on him to cut his finger and noticing the item on the goblins desk. The goblin growled and thrust the letter opener, actually just a small dagger that happened to be laying on the desk, at Harry. Sighing, Harry took it and cut his finger.

A few minutes later Harry emerged from the bank with a small smile on his hidden face, a chequebook in his pocket and a bloody finger in his mouth. The goblin had given Harry such a glare when asked if he would heal the cut that the defier of Voldemort quickly snatched up his new chequebook and hurried from the bank.

He got to the bottom of the white marble steps and glanced down the street. Spotting a store he hadn't been in for years and having a sudden idea, he set off for it.

"Well," he muttered under his breath as he walked towards the store, "Logic says I should be able to buy one here."

Pushing open the door and entering the dusty shop, Harry breathed in deeply as the tingle of magic in the air washed over him, though it felt very different from the small prickle on the back of his neck he felt the last time he entered here. This was refreshing and invigorating and left him feeling like he had just woken up after a long nights rest.

"How curious." said a soft voice.

Harry snapped his eyes open and found himself looking at his reflection in a pair of large, silvery eyes. Finding himself standing within an inch of Mr. Ollivander, Harry gave a slight yelp and jumped backwards.

"Curious." the old wandmaker muttered again, still staring at Harry unblinkingly.

Harry got a strong sense of deja vu when he asked the obvious question, "What is?"

Ollivander stared at Harry a moment longer before heading back behind the counter and answering, "All the wands I sell in my shop were created in my workroom behind that door," he said while pointing to a door behind him, "I store numerous wand cores, wand woods and of course, completed wands, on the premises. As all are such magical items they tend to give off a slight...Well I would describe it as a 'glow of magic'. You could liken it to how a candle gives a soft glow in a dark room. It's not exactly the same as an aura as auras are left from active magic and can be sensed in numerous ways. This just an output of magic, totally passive and not something that can normally be sensed.

"Normally such items 'glow' is so small as to be undetectable, however with such large amounts in one place over such a long time... Well I'm sure you understand as Hogwarts is somewhat the same, though here it is more... Compacted."

Harry was unsure where this was going but nodded politely for the old wandmaker to continue.

"This shop has been producing, storing and selling wands for hundreds of years and as such the very air has taken on a slight magical charge due to the high amounts of magical items constantly on the premises. Some people are aware of it as a small tingling feeling, others may hear it as a constant soft humming or buzzing, I've seen a few people who felt chills or hot flashes and a few years ago a young metamorph's hair constantly cycled through a shocking array of colours until she left the store, it was most amusing." Ollivander smiled and looked distant for a second, obviously remembering the event. Harry thought he must have been talking about Tonks and made a mental note to ask her about it. Ollivander gave a slight cough and continued. "Where was I? Oh yes. One person even said they could smell marmalade, though I'm not certain it was the magic he was smelling as he seemed to have a large variety of foods in his beard. However, ninety percent of the witches and wizards who enter my shop feel, hear or smell nothing." Ollivander stopped talking and looked at Harry once again.

After an uncomfortable few moments, Harry spoke up, "And what exactly did you find curious?" Harry asked, prodding the old man to continue and cursing yet another thing that made him stand out from the crowd.

"I do not feel the magic, I do not hear the magic and I certainly do not smell the magic. I, like all those in my family line, am able to see the magic." Ollivander stated, "It is one of the reasons I can match a witch or wizard to a wand so well. Some people think it strange that I snatch a potential wand from their hand so quickly but as soon as I see the magic in the wand react to the holder I can tell if it will be a fit or not."

"And..." Harry said, brow furrowed in confusion, "What did you see that you found curious?"

"What I found curious was all the ambient magic in the room, which normally just swirls about like a very fine mist, suddenly rushed to you and started swirling around your body like an over excited puppy greeting it's master."

Harry blinked. Ollivander did not. Harry blinked again. Ollivander smiled.

"You are confused." he stated.

"I..err...It did what?" Harry asked.

"The magic in the air rushed to you and started to swirl around your body, it was like you were standing in a miniature tornado comprised of magic. In fact, it is still doing so now but at a lesser extent. Perhaps because you are now aware of it, hmm?" the wandmaker paused and cocked his head to the side, "I have never seen a thing like it in all my many years. The first comparison I could think of would be the one I gave; A young puppy greeting it's master, jumping around you and eager to please. Most curious."

Harry thought for a moment. "I felt a prickle on my neck last time I entered your shop, when I brought my wand, you didn't mention it then." he said.

"No. The same thing didn't happen. Though," Ollivander paused and did the classical upwards look of someone trying to remember something, "It didn't react the same as now, however I remember seeing it move slightly towards you. I thought it a trick of the light."

"So why didn't it do the same thing back then?" Harry asked.

"I am unsure. It could be any number of things. Of course, it might just be you are more in tune with your magic now than you were back then. Though... Something tells me it isn't that." Ollivander finished with a very thoughtful look on his face.

"So," Harry thought for a second, "What exactly does this mean?"

"Haven't the foggiest." Ollivander replied with an unblinking smile. "Never seen that happen in all my years."

Harry suddenly remembered something Dumbledore had said about Ollivander owling him as soon as Harry had brought his wand, the brother of Voldemort's.

"And you didn't see it happen, or me for that matter, today, no matter who might be interested in knowing." Harry said, his voice dropping an octave lower.

Mr. Ollivander's face lost some of it's friendliness. "There is no need to try and threaten me Mr. Potter, I would never betray you to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. That...Monster killed my granddaughter and her family during the last war."

Harry held back a flinch at in unintended insult he had given Ollivander. "I never thought for a second that you would. However," Harry looked Ollivander in the eye, meeting his unblinking stare, "Dumbledore would also be interested."

Ollivander considered him for a few moments before nodding and looking away. "I will keep this between us, Mr. Potter. However I would like to talk to you about it at a later date. Please stop by after I have closed for the day when ever you have time."

"I look forward to doing so. And please, feel free to call me Harry." Harry smiled slightly and happily blinked his eyes a few times before Ollivander looked back towards him.

"As you wish, Harry. I extend the same offer to you; please feel free to call me Octavius." Ollivander said with a smile. "Now what can I do for you today? In for some wand polish? Wand need a tune up perhaps?"

"I was wondering if you sold wand holsters. With things they way they are I think I may be needing one."

Ollivander nodded and looked at Harry for a few moments, considering something.

"I do sell them, yes." he said, after a pause he added, "I think you might benefit from one of my custom works."

"Are they different from the normal models you sell?" Harry asked.

"Oh yes." the old man said in an excited tone, "I have a great number of enchantments put on them. And they are dragonhide, not leather. I have only sold six since I first made them nearly fifty years ago."

"What enchantments do they have?" Harry asked, perking up. If Ollivander thought he would benefit from a rare item that he obviously only sold to select people, it must be good.

"When in it's holster, your wand is summon-proof and will not be lost due to any disarming charms. It is also short enough to comfortably fit on your forearm and will, without any damage, shrink your wand to fit inside of it. Unless you do it yourself, the only way for someone to remove the holster from your person would be to cut your arm off. It also has several protective spells on it to prevent general ware and tare. I also managed to enchant it to deflect spells away from it, however they would not stop a powerful spell directly so don't try it, the enchantment is meant to curve spells away from the holster to prevent damage." Ollivander said as he rummaged around in a large trunk under the counter. "I have also developed a unique spell that delivers and returns your wand from the holster with a just thought. It took me three years to work that one out. Ah, here we go!"

Ollivander stood up and held out a small, six inch piece of black scaly material with several straps dangling from it. Taking it, Harry pulled his right sleeve up and fitted it to the inside of his forearm.

"I thought you might like this one in particular as it is made from the skin of a Hungarian Horntail, the same breed you faced in the first task of the Triwizard Tournament. Now, lay your wand on top of it." Ollivander said. Harry did so and watched as Octavius waved his own wand over the holster while mumbling under his breath. With a final tap Harry's wand shrank down from it's normal thirteen and a half inches to just over five, at which point it seemed to melt into the dragonhide like water into a sponge, leaving only a slight five inch long ridge in the black skin.

"Now," Ollivander said, "Think of the wand being in your hand. Try and focus your thoughts on your wand as you do this. Pictu-" Ollivander stopped talking as Harry's wand was suddenly clutched in it's owners fingers. "Impressive, Harry. It took several minutes for me to first extract my wand and I was the one who invented the spell to control it."

"How do I get it to...Oh." Harry stopped talking, as in the middle of asking how to return it to it's holster, his wand was no longer in his fingers. He thought of holding his wand and it was suddenly in his hand, his fingers automatically curled around the grip in the way he felt most comfortable.

Ollivander found himself very impressed. Harry had grasped onto that much quicker than he had after creating the holster. The rare few people he had sold other's to had taken at least five minutes to learn how to extract their wand and a lot longer before it became an unconscious action.

"Oh yes, Mr. Potter," the wandmaker whispered softly as Harry continued to quickly move his wand from hand to holster, "I expect we shall see _great_ things from you."

*****

After trying, and failing, to pay Ollivander for the holster ("A small contribution to the good fight, Harry."), Harry made his way to Madam Malkin's to enquire about the possibility of buying the third item on his most important list. He entered the small shop and immediately pulled the hood of his cloak further over his face, making sure there was no way he could be identified.

"_Shit!"_ he spat to himself, "_Of all the damn people to run into..."_

"Hello sir!" the bright voice of Cho Chang chirped from behind the till, "Welcome to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. How may I be of assistance?"

Harry thought frantically for a moment before putting on a deep raspy voice, "I wish to speak to Madam Malkin."

Cho frowned slightly, "I'm afraid she is out at the moment, _sir_, but I assure you that _I _will be able to provide you with just as much assistance as she could."

Harry thought for a moment. This wasn't helpful at all. For some reason Madam Malkin had taken a shine to him and, promised him that she would never tell a soul he had been there. He thought that the item he needed would have to be custom fitted and he had no intention of letting Cho fit him for something. Still, at least he would be able to find out if they sold what he was after.

"I'm looking for armour. Dragonhide. Do you sell it?" Harry rasped.

"The only dragon_skin_ items we sell are the designer jackets and boots." she eyed him up and down, "Everyone knows that dragonhide armour is a Ministry restricted item. You need a permit for it."

Harry let several colourful descriptions of the Ministry of Magic flow through his head. He was getting sick and tired of the Ministry sticking it's nose in everything. He was sure that the Ministry of Idiots restricted it because they didn't want well armed people who might stand against them. Heaven forbid little John Smith might just want to keep his family protected where ever they went.

"Right," Harry rasped, "How silly of me. I must have forgotten. Good day." And with that, he left the shop before Cho could say a word.

Harry strode away from the robe shop cursing to himself. He had been hoping that he'd be able to pick up some body armour there as he had no idea where else he might be able to get it. He thought about checking Knockturn Alley for armour, but he decided he didn't trust anyone down there to get to close to him, let alone measure him for body armour. Besides, he would have to remove his cloak and that was a sure fire way to bring Death Eaters down on his head.

Mentally crossing another item off his list, even though he hadn't been able to get it, Harry started pushing his way through the thickening crowd towards Trunks 'R Us. He was determined that he would get this item. Without it, his plans would be totally screwed.

*****

Half an hour later Harry was carefully walking through the entrance to Knockturn Alley. He wasn't looking forward to visiting the shops down here, but the Ministry had forced his hand. At least, that was what Harry told himself. It was true. Mostly. About _some_ of the things he wanted anyway. The others... Well sometimes rules, and laws, just needed to be broken.

Spotting what he was after, Harry quickly made his way into a dingy looking book store called Paper Cuts. He peered around, letting his eyes adjust to the gloom, taking in the rows, shelves, cases and piles of books.

"What do you want?" a high, nasal voice demanded from behind the till.

"Books." Harry rasped, "Problem with that?" he demanded back. He had decided that being rude and abrasive in his dealings would probably help him greatly.

"The problem comes if you don't have the gold to pay for them." Mr. Nasal-Voice said, sticking his long, upward curving nose in the air and glaring at Harry.

"I have plenty of gold." Harry rasped, then thought for a second, "I presume you take cheques?"

"If it ain't no good then it'll be very unpleasant for you." the store owner spat.

Harry grunted and moved into the bookshelves. He pulled out yet another list and consulted it.

_**Books:  
**__wards (stupid m.o.m)  
curses  
real duelling (not competition crap)  
potions (poisons and stuff)  
transport (portkeys especially – dumbledore can make untraceable ones, _**must** _find out how)  
anything that might be useful_

Glancing over the list and nodding to himself, he headed in the direction of stack labelled 'Warding'.

"Now this is more like it!" Harry muttered to himself, seeing at least twelve books, none of them with titles containing 'Ministry'. He saw a small, beaten up basket close by and dumped five of the best looking books into it. The basket gave a feeble attempt at floating before dropping back to the floor. Harry sighed and picked it up before heading towards a label with 'Curses' on it. Seeing as this section seemed to take up about one third of the shop, he was going to be here for a while.

Some time later Harry thumped the basket down in front of Mr. Nasal-Voice and waited while the man added up the total.

"Five hundred and sixty four galleons, eight sickles and three knuts." he said.

"What?!" Harry exclaimed, forgetting himself. "I'm not paying that much! There are only eighteen books there!"

"Several of those books are restricted by the Ministry." the man snapped.

Harry, recovering from his shock and trying to slip back into character, suddenly had an idea.

"And I doubt very much that you would want them knowing that you sold them to me." he growled.

The man gulped. It was true, he didn't. One of those books would land him a year in Azkaban just for owning it, _selling_ it would be much worse.

"Five fifty even." he snapped.

"Three hundred." Harry countered.

"Never! I had to do a lot to get a copy of that portkey book. It's the only one I have! I don't even know why it was on the shelves. Five hundred."

"Four twenty five or I walk out, talking loudly about what a wonderful selection of interesting books you have!" Harry insisted, unsure just how far he could push the man.

"Four fifty and not a knut lower!" the pointy nosed shopkeeper said quickly.

Harry thought for a moment before nodding and pulling the chequebook from his pocket, he probably wouldn't get the man to go lower. "Done."

"I'll know right away if that cheque isn't good you know." the shopkeeper said, patting a metal box, slightly bigger than the chequebook in Harry's hand.

As he had left the bank without asking the goblin, the kind old man who ran the trunk store explained how the cheques worked. A good thing he did because the owner of this store didn't look best pleased at the moment. He quickly snatched a quill from the counter and scratched the total into the correct box, then pressed his thumb hard into the bank seal in one corner. A tiny jab of pain, a small flash of white then a larger flash of green and he ripped the cheque from the book and handed it over.

The shopkeeper snatched it from his hand and opened the box he had been tapping. Mr. Nasal-Voice shoved the cheque inside and pressed a finger to the Gringotts seal on top of the box, a few seconds later there was a dull blue flash from it.

"Well go on then!" the shopkeeper snapped, "Take your books and clear out!"

Harry quickly crammed his new books into his backpack and left the dreary book store with it's miserable owner. Harry thought he and Snape could have been friends, or at the very least, share tips on sneering.

Glancing down the street he spotted the next thing he was after. This was going to take even more acting than the book store.

Harry pushed the door open and arrogantly swaggered towards the counter. The small, thin man behind it eyed him coolly.

"May I help you sir?" he asked politely, though his eyes were as cold as ice chips.

Harry grunted. "For your sake, you better hope that you can." he rasped.

The man stiffened and glared angrily. "What do you want?" he bit out, any politeness gone.

"It is not what _I_ want but," Harry slowly and deliberately placed his right hand on his left forearm, "It is what my _Master_ wants."

This was a huge gamble. Harry seriously hoped he wasn't going to be stunned and handed over to the Ministry. However it seemed his fear was unfounded as the thin man behind the counter paled suddenly and nodded.

"Of course! Anything for him, anything at all. Smithe can provide what He needs, just like always!" the man, Smithe, babbled.

Harry thought that Smithe's last words were interesting. It sounded like Voldemort often got items from him.

"Shut up and start providing then!" Harry snapped. He felt bad when the man jumped but he had to keep up the Death Eater act now that he had started. "He wants an untraceable wand suitable for an underage wizard. I assume that is not too much for you?"

"Why would He want that?" Smithe asked curiously, briefly forgetting himself.

"I do not question His orders and you should know better than to do so!" Harry snarled. Smithe jumped again and shrank away.

"O-of course n-not!" Smithe stuttered, "But if I m-may make a suggestion, sir?"

"Proceed."

"If He needs a young Wizard to be able to preform magic without the Ministry knowing, I may have an item that would better suit His needs." Smithe said, leaning back as if preparing for something to strike him.

"Explain." Harry drawled in a bored tone, though he was now very interested.

Smithe slowly walked over to a bare stretch of wall and tapped his wand in a quick pattern against it while whispering what Harry took to be a password. A small safe door appeared and the nervous store owner quickly opened it, reached inside and pulled out something too small for Harry to see. Smithe turned back to Harry and cautiously stepped over to him.

He opened his hand and showed Harry a small black object. It looked somewhat like a small rubber band and had a slight dark purple glow to it.

"This fits onto a wand, around the grip." the shopkeeper said, "It will mask any tracing spells on the wand. The user could stand right next to the Ministry's monitoring equipment and preform any spell without it being picked up. It is better than you buying an unregistered wand as the Wizard is still able to use a wand that chose him.

"Additionally, once it has been fitted to a wand it will match it's colour to that of the wandwood. It can be passed off as a lump in the handle to help with grip."

This was great! Harry had been wanting to get a secondary wand that the Ministry couldn't track. It was just as vital, if not more so, than the trunk he had ordered earlier. Without being able to do magic Harry was so badly limited he might as well just bow to Dumbledore's wishes. With this thing he would be able to use his own wand.

Harry picked up the glowing rubber band and slipped it into his pocket. "If this does not work exactly as you say..." Harry threatened.

"It will!" the man said shrilly, his skin ghost white.

"Very well." Harry turned to leave.

"Erm...Sir?" a very quiet voice said from behind him. Harry turned around and saw Smithe looking even more fearful.

"Yes?" Harry drawled.

"Those are not exactly cheap or easy to make..." Smithe said quietly.

Harry wasn't sure what to do. Would a Death Eater pay? Would they just walk out? Would they curse the man?

"Very well." Harry growled. He strode over to the counter and tossed a handful of Galleons onto it. Smithe's eyes widened in surprise. Harry stiffened. Maybe he shouldn't have paid.

"Sir t-this is too much!" Smithe said, looking panicked.

Harry thought quickly. "Payment for the item and a little extra to help you forget I was ever here."

"Yes sir." Smithe nodded as he scooped the gold away. "Good day sir."

Harry strode out of Smithe & Bratt Wand Shoppe and shook himself. Acting like a Death Eater was very unpleasant.

"Time to go home and have a shower I think." he muttered to himself.

--

**A/N:** Hey all! I'm sorry I'm late in posting. My computer decided to break and all my files and notes were on it. Obviously it's fixed now and I'm back writing with no file loss! This chapter is shorter than the past two and following chapters could be more this length. Update times may also be a little more...flexible than I wanted as well. Reality has decided to heap a load of things on me lately.

I know this chapter is more shopping but...well tough to be honest. Has to be done. Next chapter will have our first fight and you (or those who can't already guess) will find out what Harry's plans are.

Oh and what did you think of the name I gave Ollivander? I looked around but nowhere gave him a first name. I thought Octavius Ollivander had a nice ring to it and it fits in with Rowlings like of alliteration in character names.

Thanks go to everyone who has left a review. I've tried replying to as many as I can but I lose track. I appreciate all reviews and take (nearly) all suggestions on board. Special thanks go to David305 and his profile.

No thanks go to my damned computer. Stupid thing.

Not sure when I'll be posting next as I barely have any of CH4 done.

Cya next time!


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